Universe Mapping Initiated: NASA's SPHEREx Telescope Activated for Three-Dimensional Survey of the Cosmos
NASA's Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) has officially commenced its two-year mission, marking a significant milestone in the study of the universe's origins and evolution.
The unique ability of SPHEREx to map the sky in numerous colors sets it apart as the first mission to do so. Over the course of its mission, SPHEREx is expected to take hundreds of thousands of images, making it the first mission to map the sky in a vast number of colors.
Principal investigator, Jamie Bock, a professor and expert in cosmology and astrophysics, primarily affiliated with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), confirmed that the instrument's performance is as good as expected. This assurance ensures the ability to conduct planned science and potentially discover unexpected findings.
Unlike some telescopes, SPHEREx observes the entire celestial sphere, completing a sweep every six months. It orbits Earth roughly 14 times a day, scanning a fresh strip of the Milky Way and beyond each time. SPHEREx uses a technique called spectroscopy to break down the light from distant galaxies, star-forming clouds, and dusty regions of the Milky Way, revealing their composition.
SPHEREx collects light at wavelengths that humans can't see, containing evidence of cosmic objects and events dating back to the dawn of the universe. The mission's project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Jim Fanson, stated that SPHEREx will study the smallest size scales in the universe's earliest moments by examining the modern universe on the largest scales.
One of the key objectives of SPHEREx is to reveal the composition of distant galaxies, star-forming clouds, and dusty regions of the Milky Way. This sheds light on how essential ingredients for life, like water and organic molecules, spread throughout the universe. SPHEREx will make over 9 million observations of interstellar clouds in our own galaxy over its lifetime.
Another significant aspect of SPHEREx's mission is its ability to look for the faint fingerprints of that wild expansion hidden in the positions of galaxies across the sky. The images taken by SPHEREx will be combined into four all-sky maps, which could aid researchers in understanding the origins and evolution of the universe.
Scientists aim to use SPHEREx's infrared images to answer questions about the universe's expansion, such as how it expanded a trillion-trillionfold in the first instances after the Big Bang. The all-sky maps produced by SPHEREx could provide valuable insights into the origins and evolution of the universe for researchers.
In conclusion, SPHEREx's two-year mission promises to unveil the universe's secrets and potentially lead to unexpected discoveries. With its unique ability to map the sky in numerous colors and reveal the composition of distant galaxies, SPHEREx is set to revolutionise our understanding of the universe's origins and evolution.
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