NASA’s new space telescope to explore the Big Bang

During a two-year run, NASA’s SPHEREx Space Telescope will map the entire sky four times to create a giant database that will include galaxies, stars, nebulae and other objects.

Tracking countless galaxies and stars

The instruments on SPHEREx will observe the sky in visible light as well as in near infrared light. The human eye cannot see near infrared light, but it has helped astronomers scan otherwise invisible aspects of space and learn more about the universe.

Its instruments will use spectroscopy to separate near infrared light that the telescope can see into different wavelengths. This data can shed light on an object’s composition or even its distance from Earth.

“It’s like going from black and white images to color; it’s like going from Kansas to Oz,” Allen Farrington, the SPHEREx project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement.

Scientists expect to collect data on more than 300 million galaxies near and far – some of which are so far away that it took 10 billion years for their light to reach Earth.

The telescope will also examine over 100 million stars in our Milky Way galaxy while looking for water ice and other organic molecules in star nurseries and areas around stars where new planets could form. These stellar birthplaces, where stars gather from gas and dust, could hold evidence of the ingredients of life.

At the end of the mission, astronomers expect to have a map of the entire sky that exceeds the resolution of previous similar maps, according to the agency.

The SPHEREx Space Telescope will also be able to identify objects of interest for other NASA missions to observe in more detail.

Indices of new star formations

The engagement team has specific goals in mind for SPHEREx.

Scientists will be looking for evidence of the universe’s inflation a fraction of a second after the Big Bang, when space as we know it grew rapidly. It would have changed the way the material was distributed. Evidence of this inflation may exist in the models and positioning of galaxies across the universe.

Astronomers also want to learn more about the history of galaxy formation, including the first stars that formed after the Big Bang. Galaxies emit a faint glow. This glow varies in space depending on the location of the galaxies, as some of them tend to stay in groups called clusters. Maps created by SPHEREx that break down light into different bands of colors could reveal more information about the first galaxies that formed stars.

By taking a closer look at the new stars forming in the Milky Way, astronomers will also be able to learn more about the creation of young planetary systems. Planets form from the remnants of the creation of stars – essentially discs of gas, dust and water ice swirling together. These remnants of water ice could essentially bring water and other organic molecules to the planets – much like how water was delivered to early Earth.

This will tell scientists if our planetary system, which includes Earth and its ability to support life, is common or rare.

Final design and assembly

NASA officials announced this week that the mission has entered Phase C, which means the first design plans have been approved and teams can begin the final design and assemble the hardware and software. The California Institute of Technology and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will develop the instruments on SPHEREx while the spacecraft itself will be built by Ball Aerospace.

The SPHEREx team will spend the next 29 months building these components before entering the next mission phase: assembly, test and launch.