The US space agency "NASA" said it intends to explore the history of the universe since the Big Bang, with its "SPHEREx" space telescope, which is estimated to be the size of a small car, according to a statement published by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Of the agency.
This telescope, which will be launched between June 2024 and April 2025, is expected to help study the origin of the universe and the galaxies and planetary systems that have inhabited it since then, which would contribute to understanding how the universe expanded rapidly after the Big Bang.
Map of the sky
According to a NASA press release, the data that will be collected by the Sverex telescope will lead to a map of the sky, by creating a giant database that includes galaxies, stars, nebulae and other things.
This makes it the first mission to create a spectroscopic map of the entire sky in near-infrared light.
The instruments on the Sverex telescope monitor the sky in visible light, as well as near infrared light.
Previously, this spectroscopy technology helped astronomers look at unseen sides of space and learn more about the universe using spectroscopy tools.
According to the statement, scientists expect to collect data on more than 300 million galaxies near and far, some of which are so far away that their light took 10 billion years to reach Earth.
The telescope will also scan more than 100 million stars in the Milky Way galaxy and search for water ice and other organic particles in star nurseries and surrounding areas, in which new planets can form.
The statement notes that stellar birthplaces, where stars, gas and dust congregate, could contain clues to life's components.
NASA scientists also expect that this mission will lead at the end to obtaining a map of the entire sky that exceeds the accuracy of previous similar maps, in addition to mapping the locations of billions of galaxies across the universe in relation to each other.
At its conclusion, the Sverex mission is expected to produce a map of the sky that exceeds the accuracy of previous maps (NASA)
The expansion of the universe and the history of galaxies
In the context of scientists' search for the causes of the enlargement and expansion of the universe in order to understand the physics that led to that cosmic expansion, NASA's statement says that one of the tasks of the Sverex telescope is to search for evidence of the expansion of the universe in a fraction of a second after the Big Bang.
This is when space expanded rapidly, and led to a change in the distribution of matter in the universe, as well as the search for evidence of the expansion of the universe in the locations of galaxies, and research in the history of the formation of galaxies, and the first stars that were formed after the Big Bang, by studying the faint glow caused by galaxies.
According to the statement, by taking a closer look at the new stars formed in the Milky Way, astronomers will also be able to learn more about how modern planetary systems were created.