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Dark Energy Survey book is released
5 November 2020
Congratulations to Steering Group member Ofer Lahav on the publication of his book
Ofer Lahav, Perren Chair of Astronomy in the Astrophysics Group and Cosmoparticle Initiative Steering Group member is a joint editor and a contributor to ‘The Dark Energy Survey’ the story of the DES project from its original conception, the design and construction of Dark Energy Camera and early science results. After a decade of planning, the Dark Energy Survey first saw light in 2012, observations were completed in 2019, and with the collaboration of several hundred experts from all over the globe, the book was published in September 2020, and launched in October with an expert panel discussion with the Astronomer Royal Lord Martin Rees, and editors and contributors to the book.
On the book launch, Ofer says:
It was a great occasion to celebrate the book and to re-connect with people who were there in the project from the early days. Our Astrophysics group was involved in the DES since 2004, with major contributions by staff, post-docs and students to both the instrumentation and the science.
Q. How did the idea for the book come about?
The idea for the book came after the first light. We wanted to document this long-term project and how it has evolved, as an endeavour by hundreds of scientists from 7 countries over 17 years (so far).
Q. What was most challenging about it?
It was a challenge to collect the material and compose 27 chapters co-authored by 88 people, especially getting the right balance among so many topics.
We have also included a section on reflections on Dark Energy as seen by a philosopher, an anthropologist, visual artists and a poet!
Q. What next for the DES?
The DES collaboration is about the complete the analysis of the first 3 years of data - that’s very exciting to see what this gives with respect to the analysis from the 1st year covered in the book.
Thanks to my three co-editors for all their help along this long journey.
Links
The Dark Energy Survey: The Story of a Cosmological Experiment