The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) is mapping millions of celestial objects to better understand dark energy—the mysterious driver of our universe's accelerating expansion. Today, the DESI collaboration released a new collection of data for anyone in the world to investigate.

There is growing evidence that dark energy is not constant. The greatest discovery in cosmology for decades appears to be close at hand.

The largest-ever three-dimensional map of the cosmos, plotting out some 15 million celestial objects, could help reveal the ultimate fate of the universe. Astrophysicists know that the universe is expanding at an accelerated rate—and have proposed a hidden phenomenon dubbed "dark energy" to explain this.