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SPHEREx, considered a "modest space telescope with an innovative design," is getting ready to tell us about one of the most fundamental moments in our galaxy's history—according to us Earthly dwellers, of course. SPHEREx is searching for traces of the first fraction of a second immediately following the Big Bang.
The infrared telescope, which holds a mirror the size of a plate, can, according to scientists, survey 450 million galaxies. The new technology can then produce an extensive 3D map. The data the telescope will provide could be absolutely revolutionary.
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“How did we get here?” This is the question that SPHEREx, a US$488-million telescope, seeks to answer, according to Shawn Domagal-Goldman, acting director of the astrophysics division at NASA headquarters.
The telescope will go into low Earth orbit for approximately two years to conduct a survey of an extraordinary 450 galaxies.
Launched in March 2025, the telescope will capture a wide view of 200 full moons, capturing the entire sky for approximately six months.
The telescope will map galaxies and record their colors in infrared light, which will amount to about 102 infrareds. This will give scientists an idea of their distance.
This is because light from objects that are at farther distances will be ‘redshifted,’ due to the universe’s expansion.
Infrared instruments are seemingly ideal in space because they allow us to see through dust and gas in order to catch a glimpse of some of the universe’s oldest galaxies.
Without infrared technology, the dust and gas would obscure the view of these stars and galaxies. Interestingly, colors in the infrared range aren’t visible to humans.
The mirrors propped on SPHEREx gather light from its wide view via linear variable filters, allowing the telescope to survey chunks of the sky at a time.
Simultaneously, three photon shields help to keep the telescope cold. Keeping the telescope at a low temperature preserves its sensitivity to infrared signals.
Scientists use a technique that’s called spectroscopy in which they divide infrared light from stars into various colors.
This strategy can be compared to how sunlight hits a prism and separates into a sort of rainbow of visible colors.
By doing so, the spectra that can be observed can tell a lot about an object, including its composition and motion, among other characteristics.
Spectrometers will be used to “survey the sky in three dimensions and measure these characteristics in hundreds of millions of galaxies.”
These prospective observations may provide key information regarding how galaxies are formed. They can also help to identify how organic materials came to be in the Milky Way.
Identifying the origins of organic material, such as water, can provide some key clues into how life on Earth developed and even where life can be found in other parts of the galaxy.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory noted that due to this objective, the research and design team struggled with the “design of the optics.”
Indeed, the team came up with an innovative design that could be capable of finding traces of the Big Bang.
In fact, SPHEREx is going to seek to clarify what happened during the “first tiny fraction of the first second” in the aftermath of the Big Bang.
SPHEREx consists of an infrared telescope that holds a mirror the size of a plate. With this tiny but mighty piece NASA hopes to understand more about galaxy evolution.
What they most look forward to is understanding the chemistry of the galaxy, but they also hope to identify evidence of “cosmic inflation.”
Cosmic inflation is the “trillion trillionfold ballooning of the universe in its first billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second.”
A theory going back to the 1970s argues that the universe experienced “a remarkable trillion-trillion-fold expansion in the first fractions of a second after the Big Bang.”
It’s this theory that explains why the universe is generally flat, geometrically. It is also the theory that scientists have used to explain how so many of the universe’s large structures emerged.
The idea is that the universe’s flat uniformity can be understood in the case that the universe experienced a period of extremely speedy growth.
This growth only slowed immediately after, holding the universe into its “initial uniform state” and then causing any curvature to be stretched accordingly.
But there are many other theories about cosmic inflation. Scientists hope to test them out and accurately define which one is correct with the data they hope will come out of SPHEREx.
SPHEREx, a cone-shaped device, won’t go up alone. NASA will deploy four satellites that are about the size of a suitcase at the same time.
Those accompanying satellites will launch on a separate mission to study the sun on top of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Will SPHEREx be able to offer insights into questions that have gripped scientists for decades to advance questions of physics? Time will tell.
Sources: (NBC) (Science)
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SPHEREx, considered a "modest space telescope with an innovative design," is getting ready to tell us about one of the most fundamental moments in our galaxy's history—according to us Earthly dwellers, of course. SPHEREx is searching for traces of the first fraction of a second immediately following the Big Bang.
The infrared telescope, which holds a mirror the size of a plate, can, according to scientists, survey 450 million galaxies. The new technology can then produce an extensive 3D map. The data the telescope will provide could be absolutely revolutionary.
Want to find out more? Click through the gallery.