NASA launched the SPHEREx observatory into space on a mission to map the entire celestial sky four times over a two-year span. The $488 million spacecraft will observe the cosmos in 102 different colors in the infrared range, providing key information about the composition, density, temperature, and chemical makeup of stars, galaxies, and other celestial objects. The observatory will use a technique called spectroscopy to analyze infrared light and gather data on hundreds of millions of galaxies, helping researchers understand how galaxies form, trace the origins of water in the Milky Way, and unravel what happened after the Big Bang that created the universe around 13.8 billion years ago.
Delayed multiple times since late February to assess the rocket and its components, and most recently due to bad weather, the cone-shaped SPHEREx spacecraft finally lifted off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The mission will help scientists unravel what happened in the first fractions of a second after the Big Bang, giving valuable insights into the history and evolution of the universe. NASA also deployed four suitcase-sized satellites on the same mission to study the sun. The data collected by SPHEREx will provide researchers with a deeper understanding of the universe’s formation and evolution, shedding light on some of the most fundamental questions about our cosmic origins.
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