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By placing the light-emitting galaxies in a 3D-relationship with each other, astronomers can see the structures on which those galaxies rest. 

“We’re operating full-time a telescope that is located at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona,” Gontcho A Gontcho said of her team’s contribution. “It’s a humongous enterprise, deciding what we’re looking at in the sky every day, checking that we’re making a map that is representative and cohesive. It takes upwards of 25 people pitching in at all times in the day-to-day operations.”

At UVA, Gontcho A Gontcho has a group of postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduate students helping analyze the data.

“With these data, we are able to look at this pattern that has been imprinted in every age of the universe, and we see how this pattern has grown between two different moments of the evolution of the universe,” Gontcho A Gontcho said. 

The universe is believed to be about 25% dark matter, which holds galaxies together through gravity. It’s also believed to be about 70% dark energy, which pushes them apart and accelerates the universe’s expansion.

Satya Gontcho A Gontcho, an assistant professor in �鶹�ƽ�� Department of Astronomy, is part of a team building a 3D map of the universe. (Photo by Marylin Sargeant)

“Dark energy is like a growth hormone,” she said. “It compels the universe to expand faster and faster. But that’s the limit of the knowledge that we have. We know what it does, but we do not know what it is. It pushes things away from each other, but it doesn’t emit any light, so we can’t see it. We only know it by the effect that it has on things around it.”

DESI, originally slated as a five-year survey and later promoted to an eight-year survey, has captured millions of galaxies, quasars, and nearby stars, and the 3D map shows where the galaxies are in relation to one another.

“It’s almost like an impressionist painting, where we place all these galaxies in 3D and then we’re able to recognize the structures on which they sit,” Gontcho A Gontcho said.  “And what’s interesting is that the structure has a pattern and that pattern can be found throughout time.”

Gontcho A Gontcho is one of 700 scientists from 70 institutions working on the DESI survey. She has been with UVA since January, coming from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. 

“I am thrilled to have joined such a dynamic and collaborative astronomy department where I have access to students, have more autonomy with my time and I am able to keep working on that project that brings amazing data,” she said. “I am pleased to be teaching and in particular, I am enjoying developing a course on science communication for STEM majors.”

Gontcho A Gontcho sees the pursuit of excellence in the transfer of knowledge as integral to scholarship and paramount to personal development.

“You haven’t fully understood something until you are capable of passing on that knowledge to someone else,” she said. “I credit my family for teaching me to prioritize learning, how to think rather than what to think. When exchanging with upcoming generations, I emphasize to them that the most valuable skills they should focus on honing are their ability to think critically and their ability to learn.”