Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope: Dark energy, exoplanets and black holes: What NASA’s new Roman telescope will explore

POT has launched its Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope on a mission to investigate dark matter and energy, study black holes and search for planets beyond our solar system. The agency expects Roman’s studies to discover approximately 100,000 new exoplanets.The telescope lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday morning local time aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. The rocket released Roman 31 minutes into the flight, sending the observatory on a three-month journey to its final orbit around the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point, or L2, about a million miles from Earth.Roman’s Wide Field Instrument will allow scientists to examine much more of the sky in a single observation. NASA says its field of view will be at least 100 times larger than Hubble’s. Its distant location will also help Roman’s infrared instruments. Astronomer Jenifer Millard told the British Broadcasting Corporation that this is to ensure that infrared light from the Moon and Earth does not interfere with the cameras.“Roman is going to change the way we see the Universe,” said Nicky Fox, NASA administrator.

Roman could discover up to 100,000 exoplanets

One of Roman’s main scientific objectives is the search for exoplanets, the name given to planets beyond our solar system. Fox said Roman “is going to discover tens of thousands, maybe even 100,000 new exoplanets,” referring to planets located outside our solar system.It is expected to identify thousands of worlds in the Milky Way, while its broader studies will reach much further into space. “Why do we care so much about exoplanets? Because one of our main goals at NASA is to answer the question: ‘Are we alone in the universe’?” he added. “One of our main goals at NASA is to answer the question: are we alone in the Universe?” Fox said at a news conference Sunday morning.The search will also contribute to scientists’ broader efforts to understand whether worlds beyond our solar system could be habitable. “With Roman, we’re going to take this huge leap forward… that will allow us to look at these very, very distant worlds and start to really resolve the atmosphere around them to let us know: Could they be habitable?”Roman’s destination is more than four times farther from Earth than the Moon. Astronomer Jenifer Millard said the telescope will be four times farther from Earth than the Moon, where many infrared space cameras operate, designed to capture what she describes as “thermal light.”Webb, which launched in 2021, operates at a similar distance from Earth around the L2 Sun-Earth point. Roman, however, is designed to cover a much wider area of ​​the sky in a single observation. Hubble has been in space since 1990 and orbits the Earth at an altitude of about 300 miles.

Roman will investigate dark matter and energy

Roman will also examine dark matter and dark energy, two phenomena that together are believed to account for approximately 95% of the Universe.Dark matter cannot be observed directly, but its presence can be inferred from its gravitational effects. Dark energy is the term scientists use to refer to the still unexplained phenomenon associated with the accelerated expansion of the Universe.NASA says its “sharp, extensive studies will help scientists investigate dark energy and matter, discover and characterize exoplanets, map billions of galaxies, study black holes, and explore objects from our own solar system to the edge of the observable Universe.”By observing galaxies across enormous distances, Roman could also give scientists insight into how the Universe has changed over cosmic time. Millard said that through the work of telescopes like the Roman one, scientists hope to create “huge cosmic maps” of the Universe in various stages.“They’ll be almost like an onion, so you’ll be able to peel back layer after layer… and see how the distribution of galaxies changes over cosmic time,” he said. “What we want to do is use this distribution to try to discover dark matter and dark energy because we know they exist, we see their effects, but what they are is a real mystery.”

Scientists celebrate the success of the launch

The launch subsequently sparked reactions from scientists and officials involved in the mission.Jackie Townsend, NASA’s Roman Telescope project manager, described it as “glorious” in a later press conference. “The trip was magnificent. “It put us right where we wanted to be.”US President Donald Trump participated by phone in the space agency’s press conference to congratulate the scientists involved in Roman. “You are the hottest in space and we have the hottest country in the world. So let’s move on. You are a big part of it,” he said.

Telescope honors NASA pioneer Nancy Grace Roman

The observatory is named after physicist Nancy Grace Roman. She became NASA’s first chief astronomer in the 1960s and was also the agency’s first female executive.Roman spent years helping build support for the telescope that eventually became Hubble, including working to secure congressional approval and funding. He later identified dark energy as Hubble’s most interesting discovery—the same mystery that the observatory that bears his name will now help scientists investigate.NASA plans five years of primary science operations for Roman and hopes the observatory can remain in service for a decade.