Telescope to reveal secrets of universe

Secrets of the universe are to be revealed as a new telescope equipped with the world's most powerful digital camera begins its observations of the night sky.

The Pan-STARRS sky survey telescope – known as PS1 – will enable scientists to better understand the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy, the material that is thought to account for much of the mass of the universe but has never been proven to exist.

Astronomers from the universities of Durham and Edinburgh and Queen's University Belfast, together with researchers from around the world, are using the telescope to scan the skies from dusk to dawn each night.

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Developed with funding from the US Air Force, PS1's 1,400-megapixel camera is the world's largest – with about 150 times as many pixels as the average camera.

It is able to gather detailed images of almost three-quarters of the night sky from its base in Hawaii.

The project will enable scientists to assess wide areas of sky at a level of detail that was previously impossible.

Scientists believe the device will provide vital clues into the nature of dark energy and dark matter.

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They hope to use images of galaxies to validate Einstein's theory of general relativity, which predicts that light can bend around an object in space - such as dark matter – because it is pulled towards the object by gravity.

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