A space observatory designed to map the entire sky over two years to deepen our understanding of the early universe has begun taking images. SPHEREx, which was launched in early March, began its observations last week after more than a month of system setup and verification procedures, according to NASA. The space telescope will make about 14.5 turns around the Earth in a day, taking approximately 3,600 images daily and observing the sky in an unprecedented 102 wavelengths of infrared light. Its observations will eventually be combined to create four “whole sky” maps.
The SPHEREx study, which will last 25 months, will be comprehensive. The spacecraft “orbits the Earth from north to south, passing over the poles, and takes images along one circular swath of sky each day,” NASA explains. “As the days pass and the planet moves around the Sun, SPHEREx’s field of view also shifts, so that in six months, the observatory will be looking out into space in all directions.” Researchers will use SPHEREx observations to study the expansion of the Universe in the moments after the Big Bang, as well as to search for ingredients for life in other parts of the Milky Way.
