Joe Yates
Scientists have released a new map of the universe giving us a chance to see space from outside our planet.
It’s all thanks to a powerful new NASA telescope already changing how we understand the cosmos. Launched back in March, NASA’s SPHEREx space telescope has now completed its first full infrared map of the entire sky, capturing it in an astonishing 102 different colors.
These colors represent infrared wavelengths that aren’t visible to the human eye but dominate the universe - allowing scientists to uncover hidden details about galaxies, stars, and even the origins of existence itself.
The groundbreaking map could help answer massive questions, from where water and life-forming ingredients are found in the Milky Way to what happened in the first split second after the Big Bang.
Advert
By analyzing how hundreds of millions of galaxies are distributed across the universe in three dimensions, researchers hope to better understand a mysterious event known as cosmic inflation - a moment when the universe expanded at an unimaginable rate almost instantly after it began.
"It’s incredible how much information SPHEREx has collected in just six months - information that will be especially valuable when used alongside our other missions’ data to better understand our universe,” explained Shawn Domagal-Goldman, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
"We essentially have 102 new maps of the entire sky, each one in a different wavelength and containing unique information about the objects it sees. I think every astronomer is going to find something of value here, as NASA’s missions enable the world to answer fundamental questions about how the universe got its start, and how it changed to eventually create a home for us in it."
Orbiting Earth around 14.5 times a day, SPHEREx scans the sky by moving from pole to pole, taking roughly 3,600 images daily. Over six months, those images combine to create a complete 360-degree view of the universe. Managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, the mission officially began mapping the sky in May and completed its first full mosaic in December.
"SPHEREx is a mid-sized astrophysics mission delivering big science,” added JPL (NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory) Director Dave Gallagher. "It’s a phenomenal example of how we turn bold ideas into reality, and in doing so, unlock enormous potential for discovery."
What truly sets SPHEREx apart is its ability to observe the entire sky in so many colors. While other missions have mapped the universe before, none have done so with this level of spectral detail. Each color reveals different cosmic features, from dust clouds where stars are forming to galaxies billions of light-years away.
"The superpower of SPHEREx is that it captures the whole sky in 102 colors about every six months. That’s an amazing amount of information to gather in a short amount of time," said Beth Fabinsky, the SPHEREx project manager at JPL.
"I think this makes us the mantis shrimp of telescopes, because we have an amazing multicolor visual detection system and we can also see a very wide swath of our surroundings."
Even better, the entire dataset is freely available to scientists and the public, meaning anyone can explore this unprecedented new view of the universe - and maybe even make a groundbreaking discovery.