Scientists predict that the upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope survey may reveal around 100,000 celestial blasts, including exploding stars and feeding black holes. The telescope will scan the same large region of the cosmos every five days for two years, creating movies that uncover all sorts of cosmic fireworks.
The High-Latitude Time-Domain Survey is geared towards finding type Ia supernovae, which allow scientists to measure cosmic distances and trace the universe’s expansion. Roman is expected to see around 27,000 type Ia supernovae, about 10 times more than all previous surveys combined. This will push the boundaries of how far back in time we can see them, potentially uncovering vast numbers of exploding stars earlier in the universe’s history.
In addition to supernovae, Roman is expected to spot around 60,000 core-collapse supernovae and detect several kilonovae, which are rare events resulting from the collision of two neutron stars. The telescope may also reveal evidence of some of the universe’s first stars, which are thought to have self-destructed without leaving any remnant behind.
The Roman Space Telescope will uncover a vast array of cosmic phenomena, including tidal disruption events and superluminous supernovae. Its large, deep view of space will allow scientists to study these events in greater detail than ever before.
“Roman’s going to find a whole bunch of weird and wonderful things out in space, including some we haven’t even thought of yet,” said Rebekah Hounsell, an assistant research scientist at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.
Source: https://www.nasa.gov/missions/roman-space-telescope/one-survey-by-nasas-roman-could-unveil-100000-cosmic-explosions