NASA’s Spherex Mission sent back its first images of the space. This marks an important step before starting complete sky search. The space telescope, launched on March 11, 2025, was designed to scan millions of galaxies and collect data under infrared light. On March 27, its detectors captured unlibrated images showing thousands of light sources, including stars and distant galaxies. The images, processed with additional colors for infrared wavelengths, confirm that Spherex is operating as expected. Once totally operational, the telescope will take 600 exhibitions daily and map the entire sky four times during its two -year mission.
Recorded images reveals interesting details
According to NASA’s Spherex missionThe six Observatory detectors recorded images of the same area of the sky, providing a wide field of view. The three upper images represent a portion of the sky, while the main three cover the same section. According to the report, Spherex placed each image with about 100,000 sources of light. According to various reports, scientists can now learn more about celestial objects and their distance from Earth with the help of infrared wavelengths. Spherex data will also help researchers explore the origins of water on the Milky Way. In addition, it can also help scientists find more clues about the first moments of the universe.
Olivier Doré, scientist of the Spherex Project at the NASA jet propulsion laboratory (JPL) and Caltech, told NASA that the telescope It is working as intended. Infrared light detected by Spherex is invisible to human eyes, but color mapping allows researchers to visualize and analyze it. The exclusive design of the Observatory includes 17 infrared wavelength ranges for each detector, creating a total of 102 shades in each capture of six images.
How the telescope works
Unlike hubble or the James Webb Space TelescopeWhich focuses on specific areas of the space, Spherex is built for large -scale research. It uses spectroscopy to break the light and identify chemical compositions and distances of the celestial bodies. The light that enters the telescope is divided into two paths, each leading to three detectors. Specialized filters process the wavelengths received, allowing detailed observations of millions of cosmic sources.
Beth Fabinsky, JPL’s deputy manager of projects, said in NASA’s official statement that successful image capture represents an important milestone. The telescope has also reached its operating temperature targeted by less than 350 degrees Fahrenheit, crucial to detecting weak infrared signs. As the focus cannot be adjusted after launch, mission engineers verified the accuracy of telescope optics before sending it to space.
Jamie Bock, the lead researcher at JPL and Caltech, confirmed in the NASA report that the telescope is performing as expected. Engineers will continue to test before the Observatory begins routine operations in late April.