The largest three-dimensional (3D) map of the universe featuring 1.2 million galaxies has been created by a team that comprised hundreds of physicists and astronomers. Constructed in five years, the image is the largest-ever, most precise, three-dimensional map of distant galaxies that charts the dark energy propelling the accelerated expansion of the Universe.

Having the potential to create the most accurate measures of dark energy's effects as well as the universe's expansion rate, the vast 3D map also validates Albert Einstein's theories. The results of the project have been published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Project co-leader Jeremy Tinker from New York University said: "We have spent five years collecting measurements of 1.2 million galaxies over one quarter of the sky to map out the structure of the Universe over a volume of 650 cubic billion light years”.

Tinker said this map allowed them to make the best measurements yet of the effects of dark energy in the expansion of the Universe. “We are making our results and map available to the world”.

Astrophysicist David Schlegel from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) said they managed to create the new 3D universe map by studying 95% of the dark universe. In order to create the map, the team utilized the data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III's program called Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey.

After preparing the 3D universe map, scientists are now hopeful of showing how dark matter gravitationally pulls galaxies toward other galaxies.

Besides, scientists can analyze the quantity of dark matter and energy prevalent in the universe. The map can also measure the changes happening in the universe and what is the impact of the dark energy on such events. The huge project confirmed on a universal level the laws of gravity as well as general relativity.

According to a report in Tech Times by Katherine Derla, "According to the study's co-leader, Jeremy Tinker, from New York University, the research team spent a decade gathering the measurements of 1.2 million galaxies to create a structural map of the universe over a volume of about 650 cubic billion light-years."

The new 3D map is capable of creating the most accurate measures of dark energy's effects as well as the universe's expansion rate. Moreover, scientists can analyze the quantity of dark energy and matter existing in the present universe. The map can also measure the changes happening in the universe and how dark energy impacts such events.

"With BOSS, we have traced the BAO's subtle imprint on the distribution of galaxies spanning a range of time from 2 to 7 billion years ago," said Ariel Sanchez from the Max-Planck Institute of Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany.

A report published in Seattlepi revealed, "How fast is the universe expanding? How much dark energy or matter is there? What causes the clumping affects astronomers see in the wide range of radiation in which they observe said universe? How the hell can we even grasp the enormity enclosed in even a tiny sliver of our night sky? Who's been getting into the liquor cabinet and back-filling the vodka with water?"

"We have spent a decade collecting measurements of 1.2 million galaxies over one quarter of the sky to map out the structure of the Universe over a volume of 650 cubic billion light years," said Jeremy Tinker, New York University prof and a co-leader of the scientific team, in a news release. "This map has allowed us to make the best measurements yet of the effects of dark energy in the expansion of the Universe. We are making our results and map available to the world."

The news release adds: "These new measurements were carried out by the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) program of (the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III). Shaped by a continuous tug-of-war between dark matter and dark energy, the map revealed by BOSS allows astronomers to measure the expansion rate of the Universe and thus determine the amount of matter and dark energy that make up the present-day Universe."