Astronomers Unfurl Record 5.6 Trillion Pixel Map Of The Entire Cosmos

by Aaron Leong — Wednesday, August 12, 2026, 01:08 PM EDT

Messier 96 (NGC 3368) as imaged on DESI's 2D map - Image: DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys

Scientists have released the largest 2D color map of the universe ever created, complete with a high-res view of nearly four billion celestial objects spanning three-quarters of the night sky.

Produced by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Legacy Imaging Surveys team, this digital map contains a staggering 5.6 trillion pixels and was thirteen years in the making. This cosmic portrait was compiled by combining 263,407 individual exposures gathered across 2,285 nights from three major sky surveys. Key contributing facilities include the National Science Foundation (NSF) Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory and the NSF Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, equipped with the Department of Energy's Dark Energy Camera (DECam).

By capturing the universe across visible and near-infrared light, the map avoids much of the dense gas and dust blocking views within our own Milky Way galaxy. Thus, the resulting atlas catalogs nearly four billion distinct objects, ranging from solar system asteroids and nearby stars to distant spiral galaxies like Messier 96 and gravitationally bound structures like the Copeland Septet.

A group of galaxies nicknamed the Copeland Septet, in the constellation of Leo. - Image: DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys

No doubt, this 2D map will serve as an indispensable tool for education and modern astrophysics. More than 160 scientists contributed to the data collection efforts, and previous iterations of the survey have already been cited in over 1,800 scientific publications. "It's part of the fabric of astronomy research now," noted David Schlegel, co-lead of the project and scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Researchers worldwide have been utilizing the map to hunt for fleeting cosmic phenomena like supernovae, search for gravitational lenses, and study the distribution of invisible dark matter.

This expansive photo provides the essential targeting framework for DESI’s main mission: to construct the world's largest 3D map of the cosmos. By taking the precise coordinates and brightness measurements from the 2D survey, DESI uses thousands of robotic optical fibers to analyze light spectra and measure redshifts, which converts flat sky positions into cosmic distances.

The entire 5.6-trillion-pixel dataset is publicly accessible through the interactive Legacy Survey Sky Viewer, allowing professional researchers, citizen scientists, and students alike to explore the universe from any web browser. As Arjun Dey, an astronomer at NSF NOIRLab and co-lead of the survey, remarked, "Explorations of our universe always start with images of the night sky... the skies belong to everyone, and this survey gives everyone the chance to marvel at their wonders".