NASA's SPHEREx Telescope Launched This Month, Take A Peek At 3 Important Facts

SPHEREx Space Telescope (photo: dock. NASA)

NASA's SPHEREx Space Agency will launch at the earliest on Thursday, February 27. While in space, this observatory will map the sky in 12 infrared colors.

The data that SPHEREx collects will be used to understand the origins of the universe, the galaxies in it, and much more. Before this vehicle flew into space, here are three facts that need to be known about the SPHEREx observational mission.

Studying The Phenomenon Of Cosmic Inflation

The universe is believed to have experienced a fairly strange phenomenon after the Big Bang. This phenomenon is called cosmic inflation, a situation where the universe has grown to one trillion times in just the first one of a million of a million seconds.

If described in a simple period of time, these extreme cosmic events occurred nearly 14 billion years ago. The SPHEREx, abbreviation to the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, the Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer, will highlight this phenomenon.

No one knows why the universe can expand so rapidly. If the SPHEREx manages to map more than 450 million galaxies, this technology is expected to help scientists understand the physics behind the event.

Count Total Light In The Galaxy

Estimating the total light across galaxies is very difficult because not all places are accessible. Scientists have tried to estimate the total, but the SPHEREx space telescope will simplify the effort.

This spacecraft will measure the total light from all galaxies, both small and massive galaxies or even the farthest. The data found by the SPHEREx will be combined with studies from other telescopes so that overall light measurements can be more accurate.

Looking For A New Place Of Life In Space

NASA, and space agencies in various countries, are seeking signs of life on various planets and galaxies. From the results of these searchers, they can find locations that have ice, water, or other life-supporting compounds.

Life is usually based on water and carbon dioxide so that this dual will be the basis for SPHEREx observations. The telescope is designed to find frozen water and carbon dioxide molecules in clouds of gas and interstellar dust.