J. Guy

In Chile's Atacama Desert stands a telescope that doesn't look at stars, but at the oldest light in the Universe — the cosmic microwave background. This light has been traveling to us for nearly 14 billion years, ever since the Universe became transparent. On its way, it passed through clouds of hot gas around galaxies.

Five thousand robotic fingers of the DESI spectroscopy reach toward the telescope's focus. In a single night, they record one hundred thousand light signatures. Hidden among these records are binary star systems with white dwarfs — cataclysmic variables.