The launch of Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope was posted by @NASARoman on X.
The agency expects Roman’s surveys to uncover roughly 100,000 new exoplanets. Nasa has launched its Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope on a mission to investigate dark matter and dark energy, study black holes and search for planets beyond our solar system.
Roman will probe dark matter and dark energy
Nasa says its field of view will be at least 100 times larger than Hubble’s.
Astronomer Jenifer Millard told the British Broadcasting Corporation this is to make sure infrared light from the Moon and Earth does not interfere with the cameras. Nasa says its “crisp, sweeping surveys will help scientists investigate dark energy and dark matter, discover and characterise exoplanets, map billions of galaxies, study black holes, and explore objects from our own solar system to the edge of the observable Universe. Millard said, through the work of telescopes like Roman, scientists are hoping to create “enormous cosmic maps” of the Universe at various stages.
Roman’s Wide Field Instrument will allow scientists to examine far more of the sky in a single observation. Its distant location will also help Roman’s infrared instruments. The search will also contribute to scientists’ broader efforts to understand whether worlds beyond our solar system could be habitable. “With Roman, we are going to make this giant leap forward… that is going to allow us to look at these distant, distant worlds and start to really resolve the atmosphere around them to let us know: could they be habitable? Dark matter cannot be observed directly, but its presence can be inferred from its gravitational effects. Dark energy is the term scientists use for the still-unexplained phenomenon associated with the accelerating expansion of the Universe. By observing galaxies across enormous distances, Roman could also give scientists a picture of how the Universe has changed over cosmic time. Roman spent years helping build support for the telescope that eventually became Hubble, including working to secure congressional approval and funding. She later identified dark energy as Hubble’s most interesting discovery: the same mystery the observatory carrying her name will now help scientists investigate.