Months after arriving in orbit thanks to a Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base, NASA’s newest space telescope has started collecting images of the universe. The craft known as SPHEREx — Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer — shared a ride with another NASA mission for the trek on March 11.
The first test images from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory have captured light from millions of distant stars and galaxies, and are expected to reveal thousands of previously unseen asteroids. The observatory is expected to revolutionize our understanding of the universe.
GJ504b is an exoplanet orbiting a sun-like star GJ 504, estimated to be three to six times more massive than Jupiter. It was directly observed as part of the SEEDS Project using the Subaru Telescope. The planet is faint, cold (about 500 K), and has a relatively clear atmosphere.
The James Webb Space Telescope has detected potential life-associated gases (dimethyl sulfide, dimethyl disulfide) in the atmosphere of planet K2-18b, but scientists urge caution and further investigation to rule out non-biological sources. The findings are considered a potentially revolutionary moment in the search for extraterrestrial life.
The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), set to be operational by 2028, will significantly enhance our ability to study exoplanetary atmospheres. With a 39-meter primary mirror, it will provide images 16 times sharper than the Hubble Space Telescope. Simulations indicate that the ELT could detect signs of life on an Earth-like planet around Proxima Centauri in just 10 hours. It will also distinguish between different planetary atmospheres, reducing the risk of false positives or negatives in detecting life.
The binary star system T Corona Borealis (TCrB) is expected to explode and become visible to the naked eye around March 27, 2025.
The SPHEREx mission will observe the entire sky multiple times over its planned two-year mission. It employs Linear-Variable Filter (LVF) technology to capture spectra across 100 spectral bands in the near-infrared spectrum. The mission focuses on exploring the origins of the universe, galaxies, water, and pre-biotic molecules, with a deep survey near the ecliptic poles and an all-sky survey during its mission. SPHEREx aims to achieve deeper sensitivities than 2MASS and meet scientific requirements with margins over instrument performance.
NASA's SPHEREx mission aims to study the origins of the universe, the history of galaxies, and the presence of water and pre-biotic molecules in planetary systems. It will conduct an all-sky spectral survey to gather data on over 100 million stars and galaxies, providing insights into large-scale cosmic structures and the history of galaxy formation.
The Hubble Space Telescope has conducted a comprehensive survey of the Andromeda galaxy, revealing over 200 million stars, though the galaxy's total population is estimated at 1 trillion stars. This survey, combining data from the PHAT and PHAST programs, covers the entire disk of Andromeda and provides insights into its evolutionary history, which differs significantly from the Milky Way. Andromeda appears to have undergone recent star formation and interactions, possibly due to a past collision with another galaxy. These findings will aid future observations by the James Webb and Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescopes.
A compact, easy-to-assemble 114mm aperture Newtonian reflector telescope, suitable for both beginner astronomers and travel.
