NASA’s new space observatory, SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer), has successfully completed its initial detector activation. The first images from the observatory confirm that all systems are functioning as expected.
Launched on March 11, the SPHEREx observatory is equipped to detect infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye. The new images show a wide view of the sky with six bright spots representing various sources of light. Each exposure contains over 100,000 detected sources.
The observatory’s full field of view spans about 20 times wider than the full Moon and consists of six detectors that work together to capture infrared wavelengths across 102 unique hues. The data will help scientists study topics like the physics governing the universe in its early stages and the origins of water in our galaxy.
SPHEREx is designed as a survey telescope, taking a broad view of the sky and combining results with targeted telescopes for a more comprehensive understanding of the universe. During its two-year prime mission, it will map the entire celestial sky four times. The observatory’s success marks an exciting milestone in its mission to explore our universe.
The team behind SPHEREx is thrilled with the observatory’s performance, citing their engineering team’s remarkable achievement in bringing the project to life. With its advanced technology and groundbreaking capabilities, NASA’s SPHEREx space observatory is poised to make significant contributions to astrophysics research.
Source: https://www.nasa.gov/missions/spherex/nasas-spherex-takes-first-images-preps-to-study-millions-of-galaxies