Scientists using the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) have completed two major tasks. They’ve compiled the largest ever sample of dwarf galaxies (systems contain up to a mere several billion stars, compared to the Milky Way’s estimated 2 billion to 400 billion) that host an actively feeding black hole. They’ve also recorded the largest collection of potential intermediate-mass black holes so far.
Both results are reported in The Astrophysical Journal and provide new insight into the formation and evolution of both galaxies and black holes. They are essentially early returns from DESI’s 5-year run, representing about 20 percent of the first year of data collected by the instrument.
Think of DESI as an ultra-long-range camera with super-fast shutter speed that can be pointed in every possible direction. It can measure light wavelengths from 5,000 galaxies every 20 minutes, using 5,000 robotic helpers to aim its fiber-optic eyes at the thousands ...
