--- title: DESI 3D Map of the Universe: the 200 Best Inventions of 2024 description: Find out why DESI 3D Map of the Universe is one of the best inventions of 2024 canonical: https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2024/7094947/desi-3d-map-of-the-universe/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-10-30T11:26:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T11:54:35.470Z article:section: Business og:title: DESI 3D Map of the Universe: the 200 Best Inventions of 2024 og:description: Find out why DESI 3D Map of the Universe made this year's list og:url: https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2024/7094947/desi-3d-map-of-the-universe/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f8a4aa5068cee57/698a8a1cc9e9411620122965/DESI-best-inventions.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: DESI 3D Map of the Universe: the 200 Best Inventions of 2024 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: DESI 3D Map of the Universe: the 200 Best Inventions of 2024 twitter:description: Find out why DESI 3D Map of the Universe made this year's list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f8a4aa5068cee57/698a8a1cc9e9411620122965/DESI-best-inventions.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 30, 2024 # Visualizing the Beyond by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/) ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large  Claire Lamman/DESI collaboration; custom colormap package by cmastro Until recently, we only knew the distances to about two million galaxies. But in April, the documented galactic census exploded to six million, thanks to the biggest-ever 3D map of the universe, produced by the [Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI)](https://www.desi.lbl.gov/), an experiment based in Kitt Peak, Ariz., funded by the U.S. Dept. of Energy. The DESI map offers clues to the behavior of dark energy, an invisible force believed to be causing the expansion of the universe. Before the DESI map, the accepted model held that expansion had been speeding up over the past 11 billion years; now scientists believe it has waxed and waned. “The \[map’s\] third dimension takes us back in time,” says DESI Director Michael Levi. It also points to a long-off future in which the universe may contract and collapse. **Correction, Nov. 1** _The original version of this story misstated the rate at which the previous model showed the universe was expanding. It was shown to be speeding up, not holding steady._ These are independent reviews of the products mentioned, but TIME receives a commission when purchases are made through affiliate links at no additional cost to the purchaser. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2024/7094947/desi-3d-map-of-the-universe/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2024/7094947/desi-3d-map-of-the-universe/"},"headline":"DESI 3D Map of the Universe: the 200 Best Inventions of 2024","datePublished":"2024-10-30T11:26:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T11:54:35.470Z","description":"Find out why DESI 3D Map of the Universe is one of the best inventions of 2024","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2024/7094947/desi-3d-map-of-the-universe/","keywords":["Tech","E-Commerce","list","franchise","Magazine","best inventions"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f8a4aa5068cee57/698a8a1cc9e9411620122965/DESI-best-inventions.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jeffrey Kluger","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/"}],"creator":"Jeffrey Kluger","articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f8a4aa5068cee57/698a8a1cc9e9411620122965/DESI-best-inventions.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2024/7094947/desi-3d-map-of-the-universe/","name":"DESI 3D Map of the Universe: the 200 Best Inventions of 2024"}}]}] ```