Plate Nº 64 · recorded October 10, 2026
Space & AstronomyReported finding
NASA's Roman Telescope Will Image 100× More Sky Than Hubble
NASA's Roman Space Telescope will image 100 times more sky than Hubble while matching its resolution, surveying for dark matter, dark energy, exoplanets, and rare cosmic objects starting January 2027.
By Elena Vasquez5 min read967 words
In brief
- NASA's Roman Space Telescope is two days from launch as of August 28, 2026, with science operations set to begin in January 2027.
- Roman's Wide Field Instrument will image an area 100 times larger than Hubble while matching its sensitivity.
- Hubble has observed roughly 0.1% of the night sky in over 30 years; Roman could survey the entire sky at the same resolution.
- The Coronagraph Instrument is designed to detect planets up to 100 million times fainter than their host stars, performing 100 to 1,000 times better than existing space coronagraphs.
- The University of Arizona will lead nine NASA-approved Roman investigations worth more than $2 million, plus additional funding for two cosmology groups.
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will image an area of sky 100 times larger than Hubble while matching the older telescope's sharpness — a combination no current space observatory offers. Science operations begin in January 2027.
The observatory is two days from launch as of August 28, 2026, and represents NASA's next flagship astrophysics mission after the James Webb Space Telescope. University of Arizona faculty and students plan to watch from Cape Canaveral.
How does Roman differ from Webb?
Webb targets small regions of the universe in extraordinary depth. Roman instead surveys vast stretches of sky rapidly. Both observatories detect infrared light, enabling direct comparison and joint analysis.
Roman carries a 7.9-foot primary mirror — the same diameter as Hubble's — alongside two main scientific instruments.
What can Roman actually see?
The Wide Field Instrument matches Hubble's camera sensitivity across an area 100 times larger. Hubble has observed roughly 0.1% of the night sky during more than 30 years of operation. Roman can survey the entire sky at the same resolution over its mission lifetime.
The wide view lets Roman catch rare objects, including dying stars, newly discovered worlds, and galaxy clusters, both near Earth and across enormous cosmic distances.
What will it reveal about dark matter and dark energy?
Dark matter and dark energy together account for nearly all of the universe, yet scientists don't fully understand either. Dark matter exerts gravity without giving off light. Dark energy drives the accelerating expansion of the cosmos.
NASA selected the University of Arizona's Arizona Cosmology Lab to support two efforts. Elisabeth Krause, a professor of astronomy and physics, leads the wide-field science team Kinematic Lensing with the Roman Space Telescope. That team received $2 million to develop a measurement technique called kinematic lensing, which combines Roman images with spectroscopic data to study dark matter and dark energy with greater precision than before.
Tim Eifler, also a professor of astronomy and physics, leads the working group responsible for interpreting Roman's cosmological observations through the multi-institutional project Maximizing Cosmological Science with the Roman High Latitude Imaging Survey.
How will astronomers turn surveys into cosmic maps?
Roman identifies galaxies across a wide range of distances and measures their characteristics. Scientists will use those observations to build large catalogs and apply physical models to determine what those catalogs reveal about the universe's structure and evolution.
Those calculations demand substantial computing power. NASA awarded Eifler's lab $800,000 for computing resources that will join a new university-wide high-performance computing system arriving in fall 2026. The lab will also receive $2.4 million over five years for the science itself.
"This infrastructure will take us from catalogs to cosmological interpretation," Eifler said. "We'll be able to do things like determine how much dark energy and dark matter are in the universe."
Eifler also serves as co-chair of the cosmology group, which includes more than 1,000 scientists around the world.
"It's fantastic to rally the community and to organize us around this science case," he added. "This really is a dream job."
Can Roman image distant planets directly?
The Coronagraphic Instrument uses masks, prisms, detectors, filters, and self-flexing mirrors to suppress starlight. By reducing the glare of a host star, astronomers can directly image nearby planets and disks that would otherwise remain hidden. Astronomers have discovered most known exoplanets indirectly, for example through dips in a star's brightness when a planet crosses in front of it.
The coronagraph is designed to detect planets 100 million times fainter than their host stars — performance 100 to 1,000 times better than existing space-based coronagraphs. The instrument counts as a technology demonstration rather than a fully optimized planet hunter, so target counts will likely remain modest.
Schuyler Wolff, an associate research professor of astronomy who leads the observation planning working group for the Coronagraph Instrument, called Roman a crucial precursor.
"It will be a crucial pathfinder for a future Habitable Worlds Observatory," Wolff said, referring to a recommended telescope that would specifically search for signs of life in other solar systems.
Who else at U of A will use Roman?
Lunar and Planetary Laboratory director Mark Marley, associate professor Ewan S. Douglas, Steward Observatory assistant research professor Ramya Anche, and astronomy postdoctoral research associate Justin Hom helped develop the Coronagraph Instrument. They continue the work through the observation planning working group.
Marley, LPL associate professor Ty Robinson, and LPL postdoctoral research associate Zarah Brown will use coronagraph data to study atmospheres of planets beyond our solar system. Brown models climates and spectra of self-luminous giant planets — worlds often young and hot enough to emit their own thermal infrared light. Her model predicts atmospheric temperature, composition, and clouds, plus the infrared spectrum each object should produce.
"That predicted spectrum is critical for planning," Brown said. "Roman's coronagraph is working with extremely faint, high-contrast targets, so the team has to schedule enough observing time to detect a candidate without burning more of the mission's limited time than necessary."
Anche examines the structure of extrasolar systems. Hom leads efforts to identify the best stars for calibrating the Coronagraph Instrument and runs precursor observing programs with ground-based telescopes to confirm which targets Roman should study.
What's next?
Once science operations begin in January 2027, Roman's data will open to researchers across the scientific community. U of A will lead nine NASA-approved investigations worth more than $2 million. Those studies will address additional topics including:
- Supermassive black holes
- Gravitational lenses
- Galaxy formation
- Reionization (the era when the first stars ionized intergalactic hydrogen)
- Cosmic dust
Preliminary results from any of these efforts will likely take months of calibration before they reach peer-reviewed publication.
via news.arizona.edu (Original)
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