NASA has put a new space observatory in orbit: Spherex. This cone -shaped telescope has the mission of creating a complete and detailed map of the sky in infrared light every six months, complementing the observations of the powerful James Webb space telescope.
Panoramics of the observable universe. Spherex are the acronym of spectro-pHotometer for the history of the universe, efoch of reion and ices explorer. With its ability to observe the full sky in 102 different infrared colors, the space telescope will complement the findings of the Webb, whose specialty is the deep and detailed observations of specific regions of the universe.
In NASA Words: “We will literally map all heaven in 102 infrared colors for the first time in the history of humanity.”
Another launch by Spacex. Spherex took off on March 11 In a Falcon 9 rocket to enter polar orbit. He did it from the Vandenberg base of the space force in California next to the Punch Mission, also from NASA.
Punch (Polarimeter to Unify The Corona and Heliosphere) are four small satellites designed to study the outer atmosphere of the sun, its crown. Specifically, how the solar wind is generated, responsible for geomagnetic storms that can affect astronauts, satellites and terrestrial infrastructure.
Unraveling cosmic inflation. One of the great Spherex telescope objectives It will be to study what happened in the first moments of the universe after the Big Bang: an exponential growth phenomenon known as cosmic inflation.
Spherex will map the distribution of more than 450 million galaxies to understand how this event ended up influencing the current structure of the cosmos.
Colors and signs of life. Thanks to its infrared spectrograph, Spherex will divide the light captured in hundreds of colors to measure distances, chemical compositions and the historical evolution of the brightness of the universe.
In addition to creating the most detailed and colorful infrared map of the cosmos to date, the telescope will look for vital molecules for life, such as water and carbon dioxide, hidden in interstellar clouds of gas and dust inside our galaxy.
Why a cone. Spherex’s cone -shaped design is not just aesthetic. It is a passive cooling system that does not need electricity or refrigerants to maintain the cold ship, which will allow it to detect the weak infrared emissions of distant objects without thermal interference.
Despite its global vision of the cosmos, Spherex will capture light from galaxies never observed individually, giving clues about objectives of interest for more detailed studies by the Webb and other space telescopes.
Images | POT
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