🌅 Mapping the Cosmos Using Invisible Light

SOURCE

NASA

WHAT TO KNOW

• NASA’s SPHEREx spacecraft recently completed its first infrared map of the entire sky, splitting incoming light into 102 distinct “colors” that are invisible to the human eye. Each of the infrared wavelengths are prevalent in space and contain unique information about observed objects, essentially creating 102 distinct “maps” that astronomers compiled into a single image. For context, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope can observe significantly more wavelengths of light than SPHEREx, but with a field of view thousands of times smaller.

WHY IT MATTERS

• SPHEREx will scan the night sky every six months and capture roughly 3,600 images each day during its two-year mission that began in March 2025. The infrared observations will allow scientists to chart the position of hundreds of millions of galaxies in three dimensions and study stars and other cosmic objects in unprecedented detail.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• One of SPHEREx’s main goals is to study cosmic inflation, a theorized burst of rapid expansion that occurred within the first billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second after the big bang some 14 billion years ago. In that moment, space itself ballooned outward while being hammered into flatness, smoothing out the lumpy early universe and leaving behind distinct ripples that still influence how galaxies are distributed today.