Last week, the Dark Energy Spectroscopy Instrument (DESI) concluded its first official survey. Over the past five years, the experiment recorded more than 47 million galaxies and 20 million stars over 11 billion years of cosmic history. The idea of a big, important observatory wrapping up a “final run” suggests that, as the phrase implies, the experiment is done . But for scientists, that couldn’t be further from the truth. The conclusion of a major survey is, in many ways, the start of exciting science, as hundreds of hungry scientists dissect the new data in detail. That process can take anywhere from a couple of months to several years—especially for data collected by an instrument as capable as DESI. “As soon as you have a galaxy survey like that, it’s a real gold mine of information,” DESI co-spokesperson Will Percival told Gizmodo during a video call.…