DESI Strong Lens Foundry

Fifty five confirmed cosmic lenses give scientists new ways to study dark matter and how fast the universe is expanding.

By Ai Discovery Staff October 15, 2026

Distant galaxies photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope — Photo: <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/a-group-of-galaxy-like-objects-in-the-sky-AiiVVzYuRyk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NASA Hubble Space Telescope</a> / Unsplash

At a glance

How close to people

FarMidNearNow

Evidence stage

EarlyPeer reviewedValidatedIn use

What the AI did: Central: Central
Who: Xiaosheng Huang (Santa Clara University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), NSF NOIRLab, UC Berkeley and collaborators
Status: 55 of 76 network-selected candidates fully confirmed with VLT/MUSE spectra, 15 awaiting more observation, 6 ruled out; published in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, August 2026
Last moved: August 13, 2026
Next milestone: Further spectroscopy and Hubble imaging of remaining candidates from the neural network search

Read the story: Astronomers Gain 55 Natural Telescopes That Could Help Map the Invisible Universe

Sources

DESI Strong Lens Foundry. IV. Spectroscopic Confirmation of DESI Lens Candidates with VLT/MUSE The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 286, 9, August 13, 2026

Researched by the Ai Discovery News desk, checked against every source above, and approved by the editor before publishing. How we work →

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