Ohio State University researchers led by physics professor Klaus Honscheid have developed the software that will run a powerful new camera designed to answer one of the biggest mysteries in physics.  The camera will help researchers involved in the Dark Energy Survey (DES) explore why the expansion of the universe is speeding up.  Researchers from Ohio State participating in the Dark Energy Survey include Terry Walker, professor of physics, David Weinberg, Paul Martini, and Christopher Kochanek, all professors of astronomy as well as five current and former CCAPP (Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics) Fellows - Peter Melchior and Eric Huff of Ohio State, Tim Eifler (now at University of Pennsylvania), Michael Mortonson (now at the University of California, Berkeley), and Eduardo Rozo (now at the University of Chicago).  CCAPP plays a critial role in the survey and has contributed funds to the construction of the DECam optics.

The Dark Energy Surve is an international collaboration supported by funding from the U.S. Department of Energy; the National Science Foundation; funding agencies in the United Kingdom, Spain, Brazil, Germany, and Switzerland; and all participating institutions.  For more information please see the project website.

The Dark Energy Camera (DECam) is located on a mountaintop in Chile and took its first photoes of the night sky this week.  Click here for the full story. 

Pictured above is the Dark Energy Camera, mounted on the Blanco telescope in Chile. Credit: Dark Energy Survey Collaboration.