{"id":643872,"date":"2025-12-20T08:19:25","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T08:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/643872\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T08:19:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T08:19:25","slug":"new-cosmic-map-shows-what-space-really-looks-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/643872\/","title":{"rendered":"New cosmic map shows what space really looks like"},"content":{"rendered":"

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NASA has released a stunning new map of the cosmos, <\/a>one that the agency says could help scientists solve some of the universe\u2019s longstanding mysteries<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Taken using the agency\u2019s SPHEREx space telescope<\/a>, the first all-sky map simulates the instrument\u2019s three-dimensional view of the sky, including the burnt red cosmic dust, electric blue hydrogen gas and white, blue and green stars<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The panoramic view captures these and dozens of other colors using the telescope\u2019s ability to see infrared wavelengths of light<\/a>, which are invisible to the human eye<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The colors allow astronomers to measure the distance from the telescope to hundreds of millions of galaxies, with the map\u2019s three-dimensional view measuring how the galaxies captured are distributed across the universe. Redder galaxies are farther away<\/a> and closer ones appear blue, as light stretches or retracts, in a phenomenon known as \u201credshift.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scientists will use this data, collected since the telescope\u2019s launch into low-Earth orbit in March, to study how galaxies have changed over the universe\u2019s nearly 14 billion-year history and potentially learn more about how key ingredients for life were made in our Milky Way galaxy.<\/p>\n

\"NASA's<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

NASA’s SPHEREx mapped the entire sky in 102 infrared colors to reveal the different features of the cosmos. Blue stars and hydrogen gas, green and white stars and red cosmic dust are seen in this panoramic view. (NASA\/JPL-Caltech)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile not visible to the human eye, these 102 infrared wavelengths of light are prevalent in the cosmos, and observing the entire sky this way enables scientists to answer big questions,\u201d NASA explained in a release<\/a>, \u201cincluding how a dramatic event that occurred in the first billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second after the big bang influenced the three-dimensional distribution of hundreds of millions of galaxies in our universe.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the James Webb Space Telescope can see in infrared light, as well, its scope is thousands of times smaller. <\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

This SPHEREx image shows a selection of the infrared colors primarily emitted by stars and galaxies (NASA\/JPL-Caltech)<\/p>\n

To date, no mission has mapped the entire sky in as many colors as SPHEREx.<\/p>\n

The SPHEREx telescope – also known as the \u201cSpectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer\u201d – is currently orbiting roughly 400 miles above Earth. <\/p>\n

It circles Earth approximately 14.5 times a day, taking about 3,600 images along one circular strip of the sky, and constantly shifting to capture the entire sky in 360 degrees. <\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

An artist’s conceptual image shows NASA’s SPHEREx telescope orbiting in space (NASA\/JPL-Caltech)<\/p>\n

It will complete three more all-sky scans during its two-year mission, collecting data on more than 450 million galaxies and more than 100 million stars in the Milky Way.<\/p>\n

\u201cSPHEREx is a mid-sized astrophysics mission delivering big science,\u201d NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Director Dave Gallagher said. \u201cIt\u2019s a phenomenal example of how we turn bold ideas into reality, and in doing so, unlock enormous potential for discovery.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3844],"tags":[70,413,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-643872","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-space","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115750923898075621","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}