The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (Roman) that NASA will launch soon can become one of the most advanced space telescopes ever. A recent simulation involving millions of galaxies has demonstrated the significant impact that the Roman telescope could have on astronomy, potentially leading to breakthroughs in our understanding of the universe's most pressing enigmas.
NASA's Roman Set To Revolutionize Astrophysics With Unprecedented Views of the Universe
The telescope will be able to capture vast regions of space in a single image and rewind the "cosmic clock." This feature will enable astronomers to view the universe unprecedentedly and potentially solve some of the most pressing mysteries in cosmology.
A recent simulation has demonstrated that Roman can image a much larger area of the sky in just 63 days, compared to the 85 years that the Hubble Space Telescope would require to cover the same amount of space.
Once it launches in May 2027, Roman will collaborate with other space telescopes, such as Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), with Hubble providing a broader spectrum of light and JWST offering deeper observations.
Per Space.com, according to Aaron Yung, Goddard Space Flight Center postdoctoral fellow and leader of a study that described the simulation, a space telescope with a much larger view is required to solve the most significant cosmic mysteries. This is exactly what the Roman telescope is designed for.
The simulation demonstrates a small patch of space measuring two square degrees, which is ten times larger than the full moon's apparent size in the night sky, with over five million galaxies represented.
This simulation can model tens of millions of galaxies in less than a day, much faster than conventional methods, which would take years.
Roman's Advanced Capabilities Could Help Solve the Mysteries of Dark Energy and Dark Matter
The Roman telescope has the potential to help scientists explore the greatest mysteries of the universe, including examining the properties of dark matter and dark energy.
Galaxies and their clusters grow in "clumps" throughout the universe, interconnected by unseen dark matter filaments, and galaxies are positioned where these filaments intersect. The vast expanse of space between these strands is filled with cosmic voids.
Roman's capabilities will enable scientists to observe the universe's evolution from its early stages and the role of dark matter in shaping the distribution of galaxies.
Dark matter's gravitational influence is crucial in the formation of early galaxies, and studying this process could help elucidate the nature of this mysterious substance, which serves as the universe's "invisible backbone."
With the help of Roman, astronomers will be able to study the recent acceleration of the universe's expansion and understand more about dark energy, which is responsible for this phenomenon.
The surveys conducted by Roman will be able to map the universe much faster than Hubble, and the telescope will move quickly from one observation target to another.
According to Phys.org, NASA has stated that Roman's surveys will map the universe much faster than Hubble, up to a thousand times faster.
The surveys conducted by the Roman telescope will bring a significant change in the field of astrophysics by identifying and describing tens of thousands of new planets.
This will significantly increase the number of planets known outside our solar system and improve our knowledge of dark energy, thus revolutionizing our understanding of the subject.
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