NASA’s SPHEREx Observatory Completes First All-Sky Infrared Map in 102 Colors

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NASA
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SPHEREx mapped the entire sky in 102 infrared colors, enabling new studies of cosmic structures and early-universe physics.
NASA’s SPHEREx Observatory Completes First All-Sky Infrared Map in 102 Colors
A What happened
Launched in March 2025, NASA’s SPHEREx telescope surveyed the sky, taking about 3,600 images daily across 102 infrared colors. The combined data forms a detailed 3D map of hundreds of millions of galaxies, surpassing previous missions by mapping far more wavelengths across the full sky. Scientists will use the data to study fundamental cosmic events like the rapid expansion known as inflation shortly after the Big Bang and analyze star-forming regions hidden in cosmic dust. The publicly available dataset complements other missions and will be refined with three more planned sky scans through the mission’s two-year primary phase.
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Key insights

  • 1

    Multicolor Full-Sky Infrared Mapping Improves Cosmic Cartography: Mapping the entire sky in 102 infrared wavelengths enables scientists to separate cosmic signals from stars, dust, and gas across vast regions, refining models of galaxy formation and universe evolution.

  • 2

    Enables 3D Mapping of Universe’s Large-Scale Structure: By measuring galaxy distances with multi-wavelength spectroscopy, SPHEREx transforms 2D sky maps into three-dimensional distributions, crucial for understanding how the universe's structure emerged.

  • 3

    Probes Early-Universe Inflation with New Precision: SPHEREx's data targets the imprint of the universe’s inflationary epoch, offering a novel observational window on an event that set the large-scale cosmic framework.

Takeaways

SPHEREx’s comprehensive infrared sky map introduces a significant advancement in cosmic observation, providing foundational data to study the universe’s history and large-scale structure.

Topics

Science & Research Space

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