Astronomers Unveil Largest Map of Universe's Quasars

The map, created using data from the Gaia space telescope and other sources, charts 1.3 million quasars, providing unprecedented insights into the universe's structure.

• Astronomers have created the most extensive map of the universe's active supermassive black holes, charting about 1.3 million quasars.
• The map spans the largest-ever volume of the universe, with the furthest quasars shining when the universe was only 1.5 billion years old.
• The map was created using data from the European Space Agency's Gaia space telescope, along with data from NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
• This new quasar catalog allows scientists to study dark matter, understand how the cosmos expanded, and measure cosmic phenomena like initial density fluctuations and the distribution of cosmic voids.
• The project showcases the productivity of astronomical projects, with Gaia's mission to map our galaxy inadvertently providing a comprehensive view of the universe's quasars.

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