Latest news with #OlivierDoré
Express Tribune
07-04-2025
- Science
- Express Tribune
NASA's SPHEREx telescope captures first images, offering glimpse into the infrared universe
Launched on 11 March, the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer—better known as SPHEREx—has now powered up its ultra-cold infrared detectors and begun its initial observations. PHOTO: NASA Listen to article NASA's new space telescope, SPHEREx, has successfully captured its first images from space, offering a striking early look at the cosmos and marking a major milestone in the mission's journey to explore the origins of the universe. Launched on 11 March, the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer—better known as SPHEREx—has now powered up its ultra-cold infrared detectors and begun its initial observations. Though still uncalibrated, the first images from SPHEREx reveal a breathtaking view filled with stars and galaxies—more than 100,000 sources visible in each frame. Every SPHEREx exposure includes six images captured by its detectors, collectively covering a field about 20 times wider than the full Moon. 'This is the high point of spacecraft checkout; it's the thing we wait for,' said Beth Fabinsky, SPHEREx's deputy project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). 'There's still work to do, but this is the big payoff. And wow! Just wow!' Unlike visible light telescopes such as Hubble, SPHEREx detects infrared light, revealing phenomena invisible to the human eye. Each of the telescope's six detectors records light in 17 different wavelength bands—offering a total of 102 infrared hues. These variations allow astronomers to decode the chemical makeup of cosmic objects and estimate their distances. 'This data will allow us to study everything from galaxy formation to the origins of water,' explained Olivier Doré, SPHEREx project scientist at Caltech and JPL. 'Our spacecraft has opened its eyes on the universe. It's performing just as it was designed to.' The team has spent the past two weeks confirming the spacecraft's systems are functioning correctly and cooling the detectors to approximately –350°F (–210°C). This extreme cold is essential for capturing delicate infrared signals, which could otherwise be drowned out by thermal radiation. SPHEREx's mission includes mapping the full sky four times over two years. By using a method called spectroscopy, it will measure the light from hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies, potentially unlocking new information about: The large-scale structure of the universe The mysterious Epoch of Reionization The distribution of ices and organic molecules in our galaxy This includes investigating how elements like water, carbon dioxide, and methane—crucial for life—are distributed across interstellar dust. While telescopes like Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope offer deep, focused views of specific regions, SPHEREx is a broad-survey instrument, designed to scan vast areas of space. Its wide-angle perspective will help identify promising targets for further investigation by more focused telescopes. 'Based on the images we are seeing, we can now say that the instrument team nailed it,' said Jamie Bock, SPHEREx principal investigator at Caltech and JPL. 'I'm rendered speechless.' The spacecraft was built by BAE Systems (formerly Ball Aerospace), with Caltech overseeing the integration of its scientific instruments. A team of scientists from 10 U.S. institutions, as well as South Korea and Taiwan, will lead the mission's data analysis. All findings will be processed and archived at Caltech's IPAC Infrared Science Archive, and made publicly available. SPHEREx is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the agency's Astrophysics Division, with data expected to enhance our understanding of cosmic history and the conditions that led to life in the universe.
Ammon
02-04-2025
- Science
- Ammon
NASA's SPHEREx telescope 'opens its eyes on the universe', taking stunning debut image of 100,000 galaxies and stars
Ammon News - A new NASA space telescope has turned on its detectors for the first time, capturing its first light in images that contain tens of thousands of galaxies and stars. The Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) arrived in orbit atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on March 11. The six released images, collected by the space telescope on March 27, were each snapped by three different detectors. The top three images span the telescope's complete field of view, and are captured again in the bottom three which are colored differently to represent varying ranges of infrared wavelengths. Within each image's full field of view — an area roughly 20 times wider than the full moon — roughly 100,000 light sources from stars, galaxies, and nebulas can be glimpsed. "Our spacecraft has opened its eyes on the universe," Olivier Doré, a SPHEREx project scientist at Caltech and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement. "It's performing just as it was designed to." Costing a total of $488 million to build and launch, the new telescope has been in development for roughly a decade and is set to map the universe by observing both optical and infrared light. It will orbit Earth 14.5 times a day, completing 11,000 orbits during its lifetime to filter infrared light from distant gas and dust clouds using a technique called spectroscopy. Once it is fully online in April, SPHEREX will scan the entire night sky a total of four times using 102 separate infrared color sensors, enabling it to collect data from more than 450 million galaxies during its planned two-year operation. This amounts to roughly 600 exposures a day, according to NASA. This dataset will give scientists key insights into some of the biggest questions in cosmology, enabling astronomers to study galaxies at various stages in their evolution; trace the ice floating in empty space to see how life may have begun; and even understand the period of rapid inflation the universe underwent immediately after the Big Bang. SPHEREx's wide panorama view makes it the perfect complement for the James Webb Space Telescope, flagging regions of interest for the latter to study with greater depth and resolution. After lofting it to space, NASA scientists and engineers have performed a nail-biting series of checks on the new telescope. This includes ensuring that its sensitive infrared equipment is cooling down to its final temperature of around minus 350 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 210 degrees Celsius) and that the telescope is set to the right focus — something that cannot be adjusted in space. Based on these stunning preliminary images, it appears that everything has worked out. "This is the high point of spacecraft checkout; it's the thing we wait for," Beth Fabinsky, SPHEREx deputy project manager at JPL, said in the statement. "There's still work to do, but this is the big payoff. And wow! Just wow!"
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA's SPHEREx space telescope releases its first images
A NASA space telescope on a mission to map millions of galaxies has turned on its detectors for the first time, capturing images of tens of thousands of stars and galaxies. The SPHEREx, which is short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, was launched on March 11. The new images, taken on March 27, confirm that all systems are "working as expected" and that the telescope is focused correctly, NASA said in a news release. The telescope's focus cannot be adjusted in space. The space agency released six images, each colored differently to represent a range of infrared wavelengths. Each image was taken by a different detector on the telescope, NASA said. All of the images show the same area of the sky, NASA said. The colorful images are flecked with bright spots, which NASA said are sources of light like stars or galaxies. Each image is expected to contain more than 100,000 detected light sources, the space agency said. "Our spacecraft has opened its eyes on the universe," said Olivier Doré, a SPHEREx project scientist at Caltech and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in the news release. "It's performing just as it was designed to." SPHEREx will begin routine science operations in late April, NASA said. At that time, the space telescope will begin taking about 600 exposures a day. The observatory is capable of detecting infrared light. Each six-image exposure captures up to 102 shades, NASA said. The color differences allow scientists to study the composition of objects or the distance to galaxies. Researchers will be able to study topics like the universe's physics and the origins of water in our galaxy, NASA said. The telescope is also capable of capturing "faint, distant galaxies." "This is the high point of spacecraft checkout; it's the thing we wait for," said Beth Fabinsky, SPHEREx deputy project manager at JPL, in the news release. "There's still work to do, but this is the big payoff. And wow! Just wow!" SPHEREx works differently than space telescopes like the Hubble and James Webb, NASA said. It takes a broader view of the sky than previous models, and will map the entire celestial sky four times over the next two years. That data will be combined with the results of the smaller telescopes to "give scientists a more robust understanding of our universe," NASA said. The space telescope is also expected to collect data on more than 450 million galaxies and more than 100 million stars in the Milky Way, NASA said. Democratic-backed candidate wins record-breaking Wisconsin Supreme Court seat Eric Adams corruption case dismissed with prejudice Los Angeles Kings push to bring more Latino kids into hockey
CBS News
02-04-2025
- Science
- CBS News
NASA's SPHEREx space telescope releases its first images on mission to map millions of galaxies
A NASA space telescope on a mission to map millions of galaxies has turned on its detectors for the first time, capturing images of tens of thousands of stars and galaxies. The SPHEREx , which is short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, was launched on March 11. The new images, taken on March 27, confirm that all systems are "working as expected" and that the telescope is focused correctly, NASA said in a news release . The telescope's focus cannot be adjusted in space. The space agency released six images, each colored differently to represent a range of infrared wavelengths. Each image was taken by a different detector on the telescope, NASA said. All of the images show the same area of the sky, NASA said. The colorful images are flecked with bright spots, which NASA said are sources of light like stars or galaxies. Each image is expected to contain more than 100,000 detected light sources, the space agency said. "Our spacecraft has opened its eyes on the universe," said Olivier Doré, a SPHEREx project scientist at Caltech and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in the news release. "It's performing just as it was designed to." SPHEREx will begin routine science operations in late April, NASA said. At that time, the space telescope will begin taking about 600 exposures a day. The observatory is capable of detecting infrared light. Each six-image exposure captures up to 102 shades, NASA said. The color differences allow scientists to study the composition of objects or the distance to galaxies. Researchers will be able to study topics like the universe's physics and the origins of water in our galaxy, NASA said. The telescope is also capable of capturing "faint, distant galaxies." "This is the high point of spacecraft checkout; it's the thing we wait for," said Beth Fabinsky, SPHEREx deputy project manager at JPL, in the news release. "There's still work to do, but this is the big payoff. And wow! Just wow!" SPHEREx works differently than space telescopes like the Hubble and James Webb, NASA said. It takes a broader view of the sky than previous models, and will map the entire celestial sky four times over the next two years. That data will be combined with the results of the smaller telescopes to "give scientists a more robust understanding of our universe," NASA said. The space telescope is also expected to collect data on more than 450 million galaxies and more than 100 million stars in the Milky Way, NASA said .
New York Times
12-03-2025
- Science
- New York Times
NASA Launches New Space Telescope and Suite of Solar Satellites
Two NASA missions finally launched from the California coast and soared toward the stars late Tuesday night, overcoming a week of delays to get to orbit. Both aim to unravel mysteries about the universe — one by peering far from Earth, the other by looking closer to home. The rocket's chief passenger is SPHEREx, a space telescope that will take images of the entire sky in more than a hundred colors that are invisible to the human eye. Accompanying the telescope is a suite of satellites known collectively as PUNCH, which will study the sun's outer atmosphere and solar wind. The launch has been postponed several times since late February for mission specialists to perform additional checks on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and NASA spacecraft. Gloomy weather also contributed to a scrubbed launch on Monday night. But that was forgotten on Tuesday as SPHEREx and PUNCH lifted off from the Vandenburg Space Force Base against the black expanse of clear California sky at 11:11 p.m. Eastern time. Roughly two minutes later, the rocket's reusable booster separated from the upper stage and flipped back toward Earth for a controlled landing near the launch site. SPHEREx and PUNCH are heading to an orbit approximately 400 miles above Earth's terminator, the line separating day and night on our planet, circling over the north and south poles. This type of orbit is known as sun-synchronous because it keeps the spacecraft oriented in the same position relative to our sun. That's advantageous for both spacecraft. PUNCH can have a clear view of the sun around all times, while SPHEREx can stay pointed away from it, avoiding light from our home star that could mask fainter signals from faraway stars and galaxies. Charting the cosmos SPHEREx is short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer. The mouthful of a name is fitting for the vastness of its goal: to survey the entire sky in 102 colors, or wavelengths, of infrared light. 'It's really the first of its kind,' said Olivier Doré, a cosmologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the mission's project scientist. By contrast, NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, which retired in 2011, mapped the sky in just four hues of infrared. Scientists will use the data from SPHEREx to study how the total light emitted by galaxies has changed through cosmic time and to chart where frozen water and other ingredients essential for life exist across the Milky Way. 'It's thought that the oceans on Earth originated from these interstellar ice reservoirs,' said James Bock, a cosmologist at the California Institute of Technology and principal investigator for the mission. A three-dimensional map charting the uneven clumping of galaxies across the universe today — some parts thick with galactic gas and dust, others more sparse — will also help physicists learn more about inflation, the rapid ballooning of the cosmos that occurred a split second after the Big Bang. According to Dr. Bock, tiny irregularities emerged as matter spread across the early universe. But inflation 'blew them up to cosmic scales,' he said, and the imprint of those irregularities is preserved in the overarching structure of today's cosmos. Physicists have long used measurements of the cosmic microwave background — the light left over from the Big Bang — to study inflation. But a galactic survey will allow them to gain an understanding of the physical processes that drove that extreme expansion. 'This is an idea that has been around, but we're really the first experiment designed to look for this,' Dr. Bock said. SPHEREx, which looks like a giant megaphone, will record around 600 images each day for more than two years, capturing light from millions of stars in our cosmic backyard and even more galaxies beyond it. Using a technique called spectroscopy, the telescope will separate the light into different wavelengths, like a glass prism splitting white light into a rainbow of colors. The color spectrum of an object in space reveals information about its chemical makeup and distance from Earth. At the end of its run, SPHEREx will have sampled the whole sky four times. 'We'll have spectra of every kind of celestial object — planets, stars, comets, asteroids, galaxies,' Dr. Doré said. 'And every time we look at the sky in a different way we discover new phenomena.' Tracking the solar wind According to Craig DeForest, a heliophysicist at the Southwest Research Institute, hot plasma continuously streaming from our sun washes over everything in the solar system, including us. It is the solar wind. 'We are not separate from our star,' he said. 'We are bathed in it.' Dr. DeForest is the principal investigator for PUNCH, which stands for Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere. Data taken with PUNCH will elucidate the boundary where the sun ends and the solar wind begins. The two-year mission will also help forecasters better predict the potential effects of space weather, from power outages to glittering northern lights. Many solar missions focus on observing the sun's outer atmosphere, known as the corona. 'It's like studying human biology with only an electron microscope,' Dr. DeForest said — great for looking at cells, bad for learning about anatomy. PUNCH is designed to measure both the corona and the broader cocoon of solar wind swaddling our solar system. The mission consists of four 140-pound satellites, each around the size of a suitcase. One satellite carries a coronagraph, which will take pictures of the sun's corona. The other three are equipped with cameras to capture wider views of the solar wind as it leaves the corona and permeates the solar system. Each satellite has three polarizing filters, through which only waves of light aligned in a particular direction can pass. That's similar to the way polarized sunglasses block glare. By measuring polarized light, scientists will be able to reconstruct the position, speed and direction of the corona and the solar wind in three dimensions. For the first time, they will also be able to track the evolution of coronal mass ejections, violent blasts of solar material, as they make their way to Earth and induce space weather. Joseph Westlake, the director of heliophysics at NASA, likened the data that PUNCH will collect to measuring a baseball after it has been thrown by a pitcher. Everything up until the ball leaves their hands, Dr. Westlake explained, is captured by missions like NASA's Parker Solar Probe and the Solar Dynamics Observatory. 'But actually seeing the ball as it goes from the hand to the home plate is PUNCH,' Dr. Westlake said. 'It takes what we see at the sun and connects it to what we experience on Earth.'
