On March 11, a Falcon 9 took off from the Californian base of Vandenberg, carrying on board a particularly precious device for NASA. THE space telescopespace telescope Spherex was going to space with a mission: mapping the cosmoscosmos Thanks to its high precision instruments and the quality of its shots. Placed near a polar orbit, Spherex had been calibrated and tested in the past six weeks, in order to conduct optimal observations about 700 kilometers from the Earth’s surface. The bet is currently successful for NASA, the American agency having announced in a statement dated 1is May the acquisition of several hundred images of the space depths.
Decline the space in all its colors
For two years, or 25 months, Spherex must take 3,600 photos per day, pointing to various regions of the deep sky. With a triple mirror with an opening of 20 centimeters, the new space telescope operates in the almost infrared field. Photos published by NASA on 1is May allow you to admire the exemplary precision of the probe, having already immortalized thousands ofstarsstars and celestial bodies thanks to different exhibitions.
Spherex scans the sky. © JPLraw
-The mission of Spherex is particularly dense and important: it paves the way to the launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescopecompared to that of Hubble in 1990 and which should be launched in May 2027. By then, Spherex must scrutinize each pan of the sky to obtain a detailed and complete card. An arsenal of sensorssensors Incorporated by Caltech on the telescope guarantees it the possibility of obtaining data out of 102 wavelengthswavelengths different. THE photographsphotographs can be declined in several colorscolorshighlighting the details invisible to theeyeeye not.
Proxide the depths of the cosmos to understand the origins
The technique used, called spectroscopy, makes it possible to decompose the light information captured by the telescope instruments. Thus, not only is a formally precise spherex, but it would also allow a modelingmodeling 3D of galaxies seen and photographed in 2D.
During its 11,000 orbits, Spherex will be responsible for detecting the points furthest from theUniverseUniverse. The objective will be to deliver to scientists details on the process of reionizationreionization. Approximately 400 million years after Big BangBig Bangthe primitive stars would have caused theionisationionisation of the atomsatoms thanks to their powerful influence, auguring the creation of the universe such as the astronomersastronomers observe it today.
In parallel, SPPHEREX shots could reveal more molecular elements making up our Milky Way. It is therefore a particularly busy schedule that awaits the new American telescope, with the hope of unraveling the distant secrets that the darkness of space hides.
