NASA is aiming big for its SPHEREx, the first 3D cosmic map. Just six months after it began operations, the Orbital Space Telescope has completed its inaugural infrared scan of the entire sky. Although infrared cannot be seen by the human eye, the 102 wavelengths of the map are detectable in the universe—with the right instruments. According to NASA scientists, the groundbreaking catalog allows astronomers to look back in time to the earliest moments of the universe.
“It’s incredible how much information SPHEREx has gathered in six months — information that will be especially valuable when used alongside data from our other missions to better understand our universe,” said Shawn Domagal-Goldman, director of NASA’s Astrophysics Division, in a statement. “We essentially have 102 new maps of the entire sky, each at a different wavelength and containing unique information about the objects it sees.”
With the new trove of data, Domagal-Goldman and colleagues hope to glean new information about a previously elusive (but massively consequential) phenomenon. Billions-of-a-trillion-of-a-trillion One second after the Big Bang. The forces involved in these pivotal moments will ultimately influence how the universe’s billions of galaxies distribute themselves in space-time. From there, astronomers can begin to examine how these galaxies evolved over the past 14 billion years.
Infrared may not be visible to us, but the wavelengths contain important information. All stars and planets are born inside thick dust clouds, but they do not radiate the kind of light that the human eye develops. This means that what may appear to the naked eye as an empty field in the universe is actually a dynamic, creative cosmic nursery.
Reaching this milestone in infrared spectroscopy was no easy feat. Since May, SPHEREx (short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Age of Reionization, and Ice Explorer) has orbited Earth north-south at the planet’s poles at a rate of 14.5 times per day. During each circuit, SPHEREx collected approximately 3,600 images within a single strip of sky. The telescope’s field of view naturally changed over time as the Earth continued in its solar orbit. Six months later, SPHEREx finally completed a 360-degree survey of the sky.
SPHEREx is uniquely suited for such a massive project. NASA’s Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer previously completed a similar map, but not at many wavelengths. And while the James Webb Space Telescope has many advanced spectroscopic instruments, its technical field of view is thousands of times narrower.
“SPHEREx’s superpower is that it captures the entire sky in 102 colors every six months. That’s an amazing amount of information to gather in a short amount of time,” said SPHEREx Project Manager Beth Fabinsky. “I think that makes us the mantis of telescopes, because we have an amazing multi-color visual detection system and we can see a much wider area around us.”
The observer’s mission is far reaching. From here, SPHEREx’s primary direction will be to complete three more scans of the entire sky over the next year and a half. From there, researchers will merge all four maps to increase the overall sensitivity of the measurement. Both the final project, as well as the current dataset, are freely available online.
“SPHEREx is a medium-sized astrophysics mission that delivers big science,” said Dave Gallagher, director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “This is an unprecedented example of how we turn bold ideas into reality, and in doing so, unlock enormous potential for discovery.”
