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The team behind NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope revealed on Thursday the strategic designs for three pivotal surveys that the mission will execute post-launch. These imaginative observation programs aim to unravel some of the most significant enigmas in astrophysics while facilitating extensive cosmic exploration, potentially transforming our comprehension of the universe.
“Roman is embarking on wide and deep surveys of the cosmos to address questions concerning the influence of dark energy and dark matter on cosmic evolution, as well as the characteristics of extraterritorial worlds,” stated Gail Zasowski, an associate professor at the University of Utah and co-chair of the Roman Observations Time Allocation Committee (ROTAC). “The ultimate aim is to create surveys that resonate broadly and have a multitude of scientific applications, designed by the astronomical community to maximize the scientific yield.”
Roman’s ability to deliver high-resolution, wide-field views of the universe and its rapid survey capability presents an unparalleled opportunity for astronomers to explore the cosmos. The Roman team solicited feedback from the scientific community to determine the focus areas for each survey, forming committees of researchers from various organizations to evaluate the wide-ranging possibilities and synthesize three compelling proposals for each.
Following the receipt of recommendations in April, the Roman team has finalized the designs for the surveys. These observations will constitute no more than 75 percent of the telescope’s survey capabilities during its primary mission, planned for five years, with the remaining space reserved for additional observations proposed by the scientific community at later stages.
“The finalized survey designs represent the culmination of two years of collaborative input from over 1,000 scientists across more than 350 institutions worldwide,” remarked Julie McEnery, Roman’s senior project scientist at NASA Goddard. “We are excited to hear from so many future users of this data, who will investigate a diverse array of phenomena, from the far reaches of our solar system to the very nature of dark matter and dark energy, alongside exploding stars, supermassive black holes, and landscapes populated by billions of galaxies.”
With all major components now in place, the Roman Space Telescope is entering its final stage of preparation for launch, focusing on integration and crucial environmental testing at NASA Goddard. Aiming for a launch by May 2027, the team is progressing towards a potential launch as soon as October 2026.
The largest of Roman’s surveys, the High-Latitude Wide-Area Survey, is designed to employ imaging and spectroscopy to uncover over a billion galaxies spanning a vast range of cosmic history. This survey utilizes Roman’s ability to gaze beyond the obscured plane of the Milky Way, allowing it to achieve clearer observations of distant celestial entities.
By analyzing the distribution and morphology of galaxies in Roman’s extensive, deep images, researchers hope to gain insight into the properties of dark energy, which appears to be expediting the universe’s expansion. Furthermore, the engagement with dark matter through its gravitational impact will enhance understanding of how cosmic structures evolve.
For the past two years, astronomers have been brainstorming strategies to broaden the variety of scientific questions that can be addressed using Roman’s datasets, including topics such as galaxy evolution, star formation, cosmic voids, and intergalactic matter.
Roman’s High-Latitude Time-Domain Survey will investigate the energetic changes occurring within our universe by repeatedly observing particular regions of space. This continuous monitoring will allow scientists to compile visual data into sequences, enabling an examination of how celestial objects evolve over time from days to years.
This survey will also focus on dark energy by identifying and analyzing thousands of type Ia supernovae, powerful stellar explosions serving as beacons for measuring cosmic distances and tracking the universe’s expansion.
“Prolonged observation of extensive areas will facilitate the detection of newly formed black holes resulting from merging neutron stars, as well as tidal disruption events—bright flares produced when stars encounter black holes,” noted Saurabh Jha, a professor at Rutgers University and co-chair of ROTAC. “This approach will also allow astronomers to explore variable celestial entities such as active galaxies and binary systems, fostering a degree of open-ended inquiry not typically feasible with conventional space telescopes.”
In contrast to the high-latitude surveys, Roman’s Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey will focus inward, providing an exceptionally detailed perspective of the Milky Way’s core. With its high resolution and infrared capability, Roman will monitor hundreds of millions of stars in search of microlensing signals, observable effects when an intervening object passes closely in front of a background star and magnifies its light. While astronomers have predominantly identified planets that orbit closely to their stars, Roman’s microlensing data will facilitate the discovery of planets residing in their stars’ habitable zones and further outward, including analogs of nearly every planet in our solar system, except for Mercury.
Additionally, this set of observations can uncover “rogue” planets wandering through the galaxy unattached to any particular star, brown dwarfs—substellar entities that lack the mass for nuclear fusion, and stellar remnants such as neutron stars and white dwarfs. Furthermore, it is anticipated that scientists could identify 100,000 new planets by observing periodic dimming of stars caused by transiting planets. Observations of stars themselves will also be included, allowing the detection of “starquakes” across a million giant stars, phenomena that reveal vital insights into the structures, ages, and characteristics of these celestial bodies.
All data collected from Roman’s surveys will be made available to the public as soon as processing is complete, eliminating any exclusive access periods.
“The groundbreaking data produced by Roman stands to unlock virtually limitless avenues for astronomers to delve into a wide array of cosmic phenomena,” remarked McEnery. “We anticipate acquiring a wealth of new knowledge regarding the universe shortly after the mission’s launch.”
Source
www.nasa.gov