They can shine with the brilliance of a trillion Suns. It uses telescopes atop Apache Point, New Mexico. Astronomers also heralded the first release of data from the survey Tuesday. The data consist of precision measurements of 14 million objects scattered throughout the universe. Included are more than 13,000 quasars, including 26 of the 30 most distant known.
Astronomers expect to release the full set of data over the next five years.
It will be the biggest flood of information in the history of astronomy. It's going to turn a great number of astronomical theories on their head and confirm others.