Launched in 2023, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Euclid space telescope observes some of the most distant regions of the visible universe for signs of dark matter and dark energy. But even while focused on the “big picture,” Euclid’s onboard equipment is surprising astronomers by capturing tiny photobombers like errant comets.

Its recent portraits of one specific dusty space rock are especially impressive, however. Euclid spotted a never-before-seen comet sailing through space more than 807.7 million miles from Earth. The telescope isn’t designed to automatically flag an image interloper. Instead, the bright blemish seen in multiple images was spotted by a moving object detection program designed by Mikko Pöntinen, an astronomer at the University of Helsinki in Finland.

“I was excited to see my software flag a ‘streak’ smeared across several images—the result of a fast-moving object,” said Pöntinen. “Further inspection revealed that it had a fuzzy cloud around it, indicative of an active object like a comet that is shedding dust and gas.”

Pöntinen quickly relayed his findings to the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center (MPC), which then passed the news along to researchers around the world. On October 8, the MPC confirmed the newly discovered comet, which is now classified C/2026 S1 (Euclid).

C/2026 S1 was seen from five different fields of view over multiple days in the Euclid Deep Field North region of the telescope’s scans. Astronomers now know the comet’s trajectory isn’t located on the same horizontal plane as the planets. Instead, its path is technically taking it over the solar system along a multi-thousand-year orbit.

Euclid’s discovery is particularly striking because the telescope’s six-year mission is specifically mapped to avoid areas of the sky that are laden with comets and asteroids.

“Very few comets are expected to be discovered by Euclid, so it was a happy coincidence,” added Euclid archive scientist Bruno Altieri.

The post New comet accidentally discovered by space telescope appeared first on Popular Science.

Griffith Observatory is one of Los Angeles’s most iconic landmarks. Part of the city’s sprawling “urban wilderness,” Griffith Park, the free public science center boasts dozens of exhibits and displays, including one of the first planetariums in the United States and the most-viewed telescope in the world. 

But there’s a dark secret behind Griffith Observatory’s founding. It might never have been built if it weren’t for the desperation of its namesake, Griffith J. Griffith, a wealthy real estate magnate who had once been a pillar of his community. In 1906, when Griffith first proposed the observatory as a gift to the city, he was hoping to salvage his reputation after the shocking crime he had committed three years earlier: the attempted murder of his wife.

Who was Griffith J. Griffith?

Born in Wales, Griffith immigrated to the United States as a teenager in 1865, initially settling in Pennsylvania. A few years later he moved to San Francisco, where he worked as a business journalist covering the West Coast mining industry. Griffith then used his expert knowledge of mining to work as a consultant for mining companies, earning himself a fortune. 

In 1882, Griffith moved to the rapidly growing city of Los Angeles and purchased 4,000 acres of the Rancho Los Feliz land grant with an eye toward development. He rented out parcels of this land for various businesses, from homes and hotels to an ostrich farm. (Although the farm eventually failed, it proved a popular tourist attraction: Some of California’s first passenger railways were built to bring sightseers to the ostriches.)

Acquaintances described Griffith as “a roly-poly pompous little fellow” and “an egomaniac.” Known for his brash personality and humor, he dressed flamboyantly, favoring a gold-handled cane and a top hat. Griffith also called himself “Colonel,” despite having never served in the military. His grandiosity led to the mocking nickname, “the Prince of Wales.”

Griffith’s doomed marriage

By the mid-1880s, Griffith was a member of Los Angeles high society. He rubbed shoulders with fellow wealthy developers whose names are still visible on city maps, such as the Bixbys, the Sepúlvedas, and the Mesmers. 

While some of these families traced their lineages back to the colonial aristocrats of Mexico or New England, the Mesmers, like Griffith, were recent European immigrants, having come to the United States from Alsace, France. Griffith soon began courting 22-year-old Christina Mesmer, nicknamed Tina, who was considered one of the city’s most eligible young ladies. 

Not only did Tina have prominent parents, she had personally inherited a major property from a childless family friend in 1885. Known as “the Briswalter tract” after the previous owner, Andre Briswalter, it was 240 acres in a prime development area just south of downtown L.A. Worth at least 35 million dollars today, the land was used by Briswalter himself for fruit orchards, but now encompasses the neighborhood of Historic South-Central.

Griffith knew that the Briswalter land would be his if he married Tina Mesmer, and made no secret of his motives. Three weeks before they were to be married, Tina informed Griffith that she had transferred partial ownership of the property to her father. It is unknown if Tina performed this transfer willingly, but Griffith wrote to her of his fear that she had become her father’s “pawn.” In the same letter, Griffith threatened to call off the wedding unless he was made sole owner.

Wishing to avoid scandal, the Mesmers relented and the wedding proceeded in 1887. However, the rocky start to the marriage was an ill omen of things to come. In public, the two presented a harmonious image of a high society couple. In private, tensions plagued their marriage, including over religion (the Mesmers were Catholic, while Griffith was Protestant).

At home, Griffith was paranoid and menacing. Despite publicly supporting the Temperance movement, he was secretly an alcoholic, and his drinking worsened his behavior. Griffith’s paranoia reached a fever pitch after a narrow brush with death in 1891. 

While the Griffiths were in a carriage on their way to the grave of Tina’s recently-deceased mother, someone fired a gun at them from another carriage, grazing Griffith’s head. The attacker, who fatally shot himself before he could be apprehended, turned out to be an investor from the failed ostrich farm, who had been ruined and owed Griffith back rent.

How the idea of Griffith Park first emerged

In 1896, despite his private troubles, Griffith was at the height of his power. Ever-ambitious, he sought a way to immortalize himself. He was also flush with cash, having sold off most of the Briswalter tract acquired from Tina, but still owed a tax debt that he hoped the city would forgive. That Christmas, the Griffiths donated more than 3,000 acres of Rancho Los Feliz to the city of Los Angeles for the formation of a public park, to be called, of course, Griffith Park. 

While Griffith spoke of wanting to give back to the community and create “a place of rest and relaxation for the masses,” generosity may not have been his only motive. Critics called the huge donation a tax scheme, and pointed out that Griffith could afford to part with the land. Not only did he have Tina’s fortune, he had already rented out the most profitable parts of the Rancho Los Feliz, and what remained was no good for purposes like farming.

Griffith shoots his wife Mrs. Tina Griffith

The more his influence grew, the more unstable Griffith became. According to Tina’s later testimony at Griffith’s trial, he pulled a gun on her for the first time in May 1903, when she threatened to leave him during an argument. “He is very proud and did not want the public to know” of their marital disputes, she said. 

A few months later, the Griffiths stayed at the Hotel Arcadia in Santa Monica with their only child, 15 year-old Vandell. Tina hoped that a family vacation would calm Griffith’s nerves, but Griffith was on edge. He repeatedly asked servers in the hotel restaurant to change his food and drink, believing it had been poisoned. 

On the last night of the trip, Vandell Griffith went to the beach with the hotel owner’s son, leaving his parents alone in the hotel room. While Tina was packing, Griffith approached her with a gun in his hand. He forced her to kneel and started asking her about the death of Andre Briswalter years earlier. 

Apparently, Griffith now suspected that the Mesmers had poisoned Briswalter, and planned to poison him next. Griffith then asked Tina if she had ever been unfaithful. She assured him that she had not, and that Briswalter’s death had been natural, but he fired off a bullet at point-blank range.

Tina Mesmer Griffith survives 

Tina leapt from the window and rolled to safety, breaking her shoulder in the fall. Hotel staff soon found her and took her to a doctor. A surgeon who attended her injuries later reported that “if the bullet had struck Mrs. Griffith one-sixteenth of an inch below where it did, it would have gone through the eye socket and into the brain.” 

Tina lost her right eye, and due to the risks of infection and blood loss, doctors were not sure whether she would survive. Miraculously, she did.

Police began searching for Griffith immediately, but it was three days before they found him at a nearby bar in the midst of an alcoholic bender. The subsequent trial became a massive media scandal. Tina took the witness stand wearing a veil and black glasses to hide her injuries. 

When she entered the courtroom, “she looked at [Griffith] casually as though he were someone she had never seen,” the Los Angeles Times reported, while Griffith remained motionless, listening intently. Tina testified for an hour before fainting from exhaustion, returning later that day for a second round of questioning. Only then did the extent of the Griffiths’ private problems become public knowledge.

The outcome of the trial

Griffith’s attorneys argued that he was not in his right mind; instead, his drinking had made him delusional, a case of “alcoholic insanity.” Griffith was fined and sentenced to just two years in prison. 

Tina was granted a divorce on grounds of cruelty, one of the few legal justifications for divorce in 1903. She also received a cash settlement and full custody of Vandell, but she was unable to receive half of the estate, as she had asked for. 

The couple’s properties had long been under Griffith’s name only, including what remained of Tina’s inheritance. As one of her lawyers told the Los Angeles Times, the law prevented her from obtaining “any approximation of what really should be hers.” However, Tina was left with enough to live on, and Griffith agreed to pay for Vandell’s future education as long as he didn’t attend a Catholic university.

The aftermath

After the trial, Tina moved in with her sister. Though she stepped away from city development, she devoted herself to Catholic charities and social events. She was apparently a big fan of whist, a four-player card game. She never remarried and continued to be known as “Mrs. Griffith” until her death in 1948 at the age of 86.

When Griffith emerged from San Quentin in December 1906, he appeared to be a changed man. He gave up drinking and devoted himself to the cause of prison reform, as well as improving facilities for visitors in the park that bore his name. He also came up with an idea for a second “Christmas gift” to rehabilitate himself in the eyes of the Los Angeles public: a free science center and an outdoor theater.

However, the city was now reluctant to associate with him. As one newspaper op-ed stated, Los Angeles was “neither so poor nor so lost to [a] sense of public decency that it can afford to accept this money.”

Griffith died of liver disease in 1919 without seeing this dream become reality, but he bequeathed the funds for the Observatory and the nearby Greek Theatre to the city in his will. The project would finally move forward more than ten years after his death. 

It was Griffith and Tina’s son, Vandell Griffith, who oversaw the construction of the Observatory as president of the Los Angeles Park Board. (Vandell would later become a city police commissioner, and was described in a 1951 newspaper as “a dead honest man.”) 

When the Griffith Observatory opened in 1935, it was an instant success, part of a new wave of interactive museums that made astronomy and other sciences accessible to the public. And it all goes back to a man who destroyed his own reputation. It’s a strange chapter in the history of Los Angeles, and a reminder that the legacies people leave can be complicated.

In That Time When, Popular Science tells the weirdest, most surprising, and little-known stories that shaped science, engineering, and innovation.

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A new simulation suggests little red dots, unusually compact objects seen in photos from space, might be one stage in the evolution of black holes.

Roman’s antenna, sunshade and visor are deployed. Here is why the telescope’s three-month commissioning journey matters before its first images arrive.

The post Roman Is on Its Way to L2. Why Are Its First Days in Space So Carefully Choreographed? appeared first on Curiosmos.

NASA’s Pandora satellite has started science observations of at least 20 exoplanets, measuring their host stars so Webb’s atmospheric results can be read more reliably.

The post NASA’s Pandora Mission Begins Separating Planet Light From Star Light appeared first on Curiosmos.

Roman Telescope’s 22-Year Fuel Supply NASA fitted the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope with a grapple fixture and

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NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is gliding toward its distant observation post on a pinpoint trajectory so precise that engineers estimate the spacecraft's fuel load will last twice as long as their initial expectations, the space agency confirmed Monday.

The $4.3 billion observatory's designers originally planned to load enough propellant into Roman's four fuel tanks for a minimum lifetime of five years, plus a potential five-year mission extension. That was a conservative estimate. NASA officials knew an on-target launch and perfect execution of the observatory's first post-launch course correction maneuver would leave Roman with a hearty fuel reserve.

"As a result of exquisite planning by our orbital dynamics team, brilliant execution by the operations team, and a precise launch from SpaceX, Roman has fuel for at least 22 years of potential science operations," Jamie Dunn, center director at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said in a press release.

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NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is gliding toward its distant observation post on a pinpoint trajectory so precise that engineers estimate the spacecraft's fuel load will last twice as long as their initial expectations, the space agency confirmed Monday.

The $4.3 billion observatory's designers originally planned to load enough propellant into Roman's four fuel tanks for a minimum lifetime of five years, plus a potential five-year mission extension. That was a conservative estimate. NASA officials knew an on-target launch and perfect execution of the observatory's first post-launch course correction maneuver would leave Roman with a hearty fuel reserve.

"As a result of exquisite planning by our orbital dynamics team, brilliant execution by the operations team, and a precise launch from SpaceX, Roman has fuel for at least 22 years of potential science operations," Jamie Dunn, center director at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said in a press release.

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A giant 10-sided wave is emerging around Saturn’s south pole, giving scientists a rare chance to watch a planetary weather pattern take shape. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has detected a huge, evolving atmospheric wave with 10 sides wrapped around Saturn’s south pole. It is the first time scientists have seen a large, regular-sided jet pattern [...]

At a spry 36-years-young, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope just keeps on going. The groundbreaking observatory recently took a new image of a sprawling nebula located in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The LMC is the largest of the small galaxies that orbit our home Milky Way galaxy, and it’s only 160,000 light-years away. Since it is relatively close by, astronomers can more easily observe star birth hot spots like LHA 120-N44 (or N44).

N44 is located in the constellation Dorado. It is dominated by two main features—a large central void and an outer shell made of dense, dusty gas. 

The central void is considered a “superbubble,” that spans about 210 by 140 light-years across. N44’s superbubble void was created by the powerful stellar winds and explosive supernovae from the glittery stars at the center. 

The shell surrounding the superbubble is made of all of the gas that was expelled when these stars in the void were born. Once the gas was swept away, it compressed and formed a shell around the superbubble. Now, new stars are forming in this compressed gas shell, making it an interesting target for astronomers. They are using N44 to study how stars form in this type of cosmic environment. 

“Their goal is to understand how long it takes from the collapse of cold gas clouds into dense knots to the moment nuclear fusion ignites in the heart of a newborn star,” NASA writes. 

The gas shell surrounding N44’s superbubble has intrigued astronomers for over half a century. It is energized by ultraviolet radiation from massive stars, which makes it glow and highlights several distinct features. In the 1950s, astronomer Karl Henize first catalogued the distinct features within the nebula’s star-forming complex. 

One feature is a smaller bubble (cataloged as N44F). It is an interstellar bubble blown by the intense stellar winds coming from one hot and massive star and is located in the upper-right corner of the new image. 

This Hubble Space Telescope image features the picturesque nebula LHA 120-N44, or N44. The interstellar bubble N44F is at the top right corner. Image: NASA, ESA/Hubble, D. Gouliermis.

An Hubble closeup of N44F released in August 2025 shows how the hot, massive star’s winds and radiation have sculpted the surrounding bubble over time and forged pillars of dusty gas.

The data used in this image is from observing program #14689; PI: Gouliermis. It used Hubble to survey N44 and take a census of its stars, cataloguing roughly 500,000 stars within the cluster, and some interlopers drifting in front of the nebula. Of the stars the team surveyed, roughly 30,000 are what astronomers call pre-main-sequence stars. These baby stars have not begun to fuse hydrogen into helium in their cores. Hubble’s highly-sensitive instruments were able to pick out faint objects in crowded clusters to find these young stars at work.

The post NASA’s Hubble pops in on a ‘superbubble’ appeared first on Popular Science.

Now that NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is on its way toward its Lagrange Point 2 (L2) destination, more of its mission goals are coming into focus, including the possibility that it could detect an Earth-like planet orbiting a star like our own Sun using gravitational microlensing.

The Roman team said such a detection could identify targets for the proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory project, including scanning their atmospheres for signs of extraterrestrial life.

Searching for Another Earth with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

In NASA’s mission fact sheet, Roman’s planners pose several questions. These include: 

• How common are solar systems like our own?
• What kinds of planets exist in the cold, outer regions of planetary systems?
• What determines the habitability of Earth-like worlds?

Although scientists have used several methods to detect exoplanets, including Earth-like planets, Roman will employ three. These include the transit method, microlensing, and direct imaging. NASA said the combination of approaches will allow mission scientists to conduct a “sweeping search expected to uncover around 100,000 new exoplanets — a staggering leap compared to the nearly 6,200 currently known.”

“It is hoped that Roman will discover thousands of new exoplanets and significantly expand our knowledge of the diversity of planetary systems in our Galaxy,” explained Associate Professor Edita Stonkutė, an astrophysicist at Vilnius University unconnected to the Roman team, in a statement emailed to The Debrief.

Microlensing Can Reveal Earthlike Planets Orbiting Sunlike Stars

Most exoplanets have been detected by the dimming of their host star when they transit between it and Earth, giving the transit method its name. Roman plans to use that same method for most of its larger planetary detections. However, among the expected tens of thousands of transit-method detections, mission planners expect a small but sizeable percentage to come from microlensing.

NASA said the “light-bending” microlensing phenomenon occurs when two distant stars “align closely from our vantage point.” Due to the strength of the nearer star’s gravity, the light from the more distant one is “warped” around the nearer one, essentially focusing it very briefly for a distant observer.

“If the alignment is especially close, the nearer star acts like a cosmic lens, focusing and magnifying light from the background star.” Professor Stonkutė explained. “By analysing these changes, astronomers can determine that the planet exists and estimate its mass and orbital characteristics.”

Critically, Professor Stonkutė also noted that microlensing can occur with objects other than stars, including exoplanets.

“This is Precisely Where Roman Has the Edge”

Using its Wide-Field Array, Roman will monitor hundreds of millions of stars. NASA said the observatory will monitor these target stars for “tiny surges in starlight” that typically signal a microlensing event.

Although the transit method is employed to detect larger exoplanets, NASA noted that microlensing “specializes in finding planets like those in our solar system.” The space agency added that this includes “worlds as lightweight as Mars in their star’s habitable zone or farther out.”

A star’s habitable zone is typically defined as the orbital plane where an exoplanet could sustain liquid water on its surface, a key ingredient for life as we know it.

Professor Stonkutė described microlensing as “particularly valuable” since it can detect planets that are difficult to spot with other planet-hunting methods. The professor said this includes “small Earth-like planets located far from their star.” The Roman team hopes to find “more than 1,000 microlensing planets.”

The professor warned that “most microlensing events cannot be predicted in advance.” As a result, telescopes need to actively scan large areas of the sky to increase the chances of a microlensing detection

“This is precisely where Roman has the edge over other telescopes that have searched for exoplanets using different methods,” the professor added.

A “Stepping Stone” Toward NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory Concept

While Roman is tasked with directly imaging exoplanets, finding another Earth around a Sun-like star will still require an indirect detection, most likely from a microlensing event. However, the Roman team notes that their observatory “will provide a crucial stepping stone for NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory concept.”

According to the space agency, that “flagship” telescope, still awaiting final approval, “would be designed to photograph Earth-like planets for the first time ever.”

Roman may also be able to scan the atmospheres of planets detected with the transit method. The space agency said Roman “would also look for signs of life called biosignatures by measuring atmospheric gases like oxygen and ozone that could signal the presence of living things.” 

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, set to launch into orbit, aims to explore dark energy and dark matter, potentially addressing the unresolved Hubble Tension. This discrepancy highlights conflicting measurements of the universe's expansion rate. Some scientists believe Roman may confirm flaws in the standard cosmological model, leading to new physics.

When NASA announced that the new Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will perform its science duties from a point in space known as Lagrange 2, many observers noted that the space agency’s current state-of-the-art space observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope, shares this same orbital location.

Due to the extremely sensitive nature of both satellites and their sensors, and the irreplaceable scientific value they will provide in the future, it might seem natural to wonder whether these two space observatories are at risk of a deep-space collision.

Fortunately, that’s a very unlikely prospect, and here’s a look at all the space separating Roman and Webb—and how NASA will ensure the two observatories remain safely apart.

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Heading for Lagrange 2

Many scientific satellites reside a little over 200 miles above Earth in an orbital plane called Low Earth Orbit (LEO). This proximity enables communication with Earth and offers the potential for future servicing missions.

For example, NASA’s groundbreaking Hubble Space Telescope orbits LEO at about 300 miles above Earth. This proximity enabled servicing missions that have kept Hubble delivering valuable scientific data for over three and a half decades since its 1990 launch. Still, LEO also limits which missions Hubble can undertake.

More recently, NASA launched JWST. However, unlike Hubble, Webb rocketed roughly one million miles from Earth before arriving at Lagrange 2. According to a NASA fact sheet detailing the Roman Space Telescope’s mission, this location offers several benefits over LEO.

“At L2, the gravity of the Sun and Earth, together with an object’s motion around the Sun, let it stay lined up with Earth as they orbit,” NASA explains, “allowing Roman to have a relatively steady orbit without using much fuel.”

NASA also notes that heat from Earth, the Sun, and the Moon has less impact on infrared telescopes designed to “see” heat. L2 also offers JWST and Roman, “a constant, unobstructed view of a wide swath of the sky.”

“Earth won’t block much of Roman’s view since it will be so distant,” NASA explains.

Is There a Danger of a Roman-JWST Collision?

Instead of sitting still at the heart of L2, NASA notes that Webb “traces out a large orbit around the actual L2 point.” For comparison, the space agency noted that JWST’s orbit around L2 is “much larger than the Moon’s orbit around Earth.”

Like Webb, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is also destined for L2. The new space telescope will also trace out an orbit around L2 rather than remaining comparatively stationary.

Because of the wide orbits of both spacecraft and the efforts of the mission’s controllers, NASA said the two valuable space telescopes “will easily be kept far apart.”

Five-Year Mission Could Stretch to Ten or Beyond with Refueling

Like previous NASA missions, Roman will have a primary lifetime and a backup plan if the observatory remains viable after the first mission ends. For Roman, both the primary and secondary missions are slated for five years, bringing the observatory’s planned potential lifetime up to a possible ten years.

Notably, several NASA missions have continued to deliver scientific data well beyond their planned primary and secondary missions. Perhaps the most famous example is Voyager 1. Launched in 1977, the interplanetary mission has since left the solar system and continues to return data from beyond the heliopause, an area of deep space over 14 billion miles from Earth.

When discussing what obstacles may result in a shorter mission profile, NASA said that “fuel is expected to be the mission’s life-limiting resource.”

“While NASA does not currently have an ability to service observatories at L2, Roman is designed to be refuellable,” they added.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org.

Before NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope arrives at its Lagrange 2 destination and begins performing years of observations, the cutting-edge observatory that started life as a National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) spy satellite will deploy and calibrate its suite of instruments.

These include a primary mirror, a Wide Field Array sensor, and a Coronograph Instrument technology demonstration designed to block out starlight to enable direct imaging of exoplanets.

Here is a quick peek at those instruments, which will help Roman image exoplanets, search for signs of dark matter and dark energy, and add huge amounts of raw scientific data that will keep scientists busy for years to come.

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Instruments: The Primary Mirror

Designed and built at L3Harris Technologies in Rochester, New York. Roman’s primary is 7.9 feet across (2.4 meters). That is the same size as the one on NASA’s legacy Hubble Space Telescope.

However, NASA said Roman’s main mirror, which weighs 410 pounds (186 kilograms), is just one-fourth the weight of Hubble’s, “thanks to major improvements in technology.” They also noted that the weight difference was critical to the Lagrange Point 2 mission’s viability.

The Wide Field Instrument

While the main mirror will gather light, Roman’s Wide Field Instrument, or WFI, will gather digital images of the cosmos. According to NASA’s mission fact sheet, the 300-megapixel infrared camera “will give Roman the same angular resolution as Hubble but with a field of view at least 100 times larger.”

“Using this instrument, each Roman image will capture a patch of the sky bigger than the apparent size of a full moon,” the space agency explained.

Unlike many telescopes designed to focus incoming light toward a central point, NASA said Roman is designed to “see the most detail in a ring around the center.” That’s because the WFI’s millions of detectors are laid out in an arch shape. The space agency said this design “helps Roman capture a much wider area with equally sharp imaging and also lets both instruments operate simultaneously.”

Due to the hardware and software improvements, NASA said the WFI will gather data “up to 1,000 times faster than Hubble. When Roman’s five-year mission is completed, mission planners said they expect to gather “up to 20,000 terabytes (20 petabytes)” of data.

“Its sweeping cosmic surveys will help scientists discover new information about planets beyond our solar system, untangle mysteries like dark energy, and map how matter is structured and distributed throughout the cosmos,” the agency said when detailing WFI’s capabilities, adding that the mission’s “broad, crisp view will produce an extraordinary resource for a wide range of additional investigations.”

WFI’s Detectors

In a fact sheet, NASA said that the detector array at the heart of Roman’s WFI contains 18 “saltine cracker-sized” detectors. The space agency also said that each detector contains roughly 16.8 million tiny pixels (for a total of 300 million), “providing the mission with exquisite image resolution.”

Each cutting-edge detector comprises millions of photodiodes, which convert light into electrical current. NASA said this number of detectors, made from mercury-cadmium-telluride photodiodes (sensors that convert light into an electrical current), provides “one for each pixel.”

The space agency also noted that individual detectors are secured to a silicon electronics board that will help process the light signals using indium. Unlike steel, indium is a soft metal that has roughly the same consistency as chewing gum.

When they are working together, NASA said that these ultra-sensitive detectors “can capture vast areas of sky in a single shot while still revealing incredibly fine detail, allowing Roman to map the cosmos faster and more precisely than ever before.”

The Experimental Coronagraph

Astronomers typically infer the existence of exoplanets by the gravitational effects they exert on their host star or the dimming of the star’s light. However, directly imaging exoplanets has remained challenging because the star’s extremely bright light dwarfs the much dimmer light reflected by the planet. As a result, only a few of the largest, young “super Jupiters” have been directly imaged to date.

To block enough of a star’s light to capture an image of an exoplanet, Roman’s engineers have installed a novel Coronagraph. NASA describes this experimental device as “a system of optics, masks, self-flexing mirrors, and sensors designed to demonstrate the most advanced technologies ever flown in space for directly imaging planets around other stars.”

After its mid-flight deployment, Roman’s Coronagraph team will begin conducting a series of pre-planned observations. Mission planners said these observations “are scheduled for a total of three months spread across the mission’s first year-and-a-half of operations.”

 

“The Coronagraph aims to photograph worlds and dusty disks around nearby stars in visible light to help us see giant worlds that are older, colder, and in closer orbits than the hot, young super-Jupiters direct imaging has mainly revealed so far,” the space agency explained.

The Roman team expects to release new images by early 2027. For detailed updates, follow the
Roman blog at science.nasa.gov/blogs/roman.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org.

The innovative technology behind NASA’s new premier space observatory, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, has a secret side.

That’s because the optical technologies that will propel the search for dark matter and exoplanets in the coming years have roots in one of America’s spy agencies.

The Secret History of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

The clandestine side of the Roman telescope’s story begins in 2012, with a surprise that landed on NASA’s doorstep at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center: a pair of once-classified spy satellites.

The satellites were gifted to NASA by the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the military agency tasked with the design and construction of the U.S. federal government’s intelligence-gathering satellites.

The Roman Telescope is a modified version of one of those two former spy satellites NASA received in 2012, which were originally developed for looking back toward Earth, rather than scouring the cosmos for signs of exoplanets and signs of some of the universe’s most elusive phenomena.

However, the original NRO project that led to the development of its satellites ended up being cancelled due to budgetary issues. So as not to allow the technology to go to waste, the orphaned satellites were soon handed over to NASA.

Retrofitting a Spy Satellite for Space Observations

Before the new Roman telescope that has astronomers so excited would take shape, NASA had to take the existing satellite frames provided by the NRO and attach special instruments that would equip it for cosmic observations, rather than just the clandestine ones it was originally designed for with its observations of Earth.

These additions included an infrared camera similar to the one on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which allows it to observe phenomena at infrared wavelengths and spot phenomena across great cosmic distances that may not be discernible from Earth at normal visible wavelengths.

Along with the addition of new instruments, the satellite was also fitted for deployment further from Earth at the same Lagrange Point currently occupied by Webb.

Overcoming Obstacles

The telescope is named after Nancy Roman, NASA’s first female executive, who served as its first chief of astronomy and was an influential astronomer in the development of classifications for stellar objects and their motion.

Even with its original development by another government agency, the Roman Telescope’s mission was nearly cancelled because of proposals in 2018 and 2019 under the first Trump administration.

Fortunately, with its launch scheduled for Sunday morning, Roman has already overcome several hurdles on its way from its original development for one of America’s spy agencies to becoming NASA’s newest milestone in astrophysics studies.

Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow him on X @MicahHanks, and at micahhanks.com.

After several years of preparation, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is about to launch.

Here’s a look at the steps, tests, and deployments that NASA’s mission planners hope happen in the hours, days, and weeks after launch.

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s Carefully Orchestrated Series of Deployments

According to the mission site, once Roman has left Earth’s atmosphere, it will spend the next 90 days going through “a carefully orchestrated series of deployments, calibrations, and tests.”

Within the first hours of launch, NASA says the rocket boosters and main stage of the 18,000-pound (8,000-kilogram) dry-mass spacecraft, which is “about the mass of a Tyrannosaurus rex,” will separate. Soon thereafter, the rocket’s reusable side boosters will return to the area around the launch site and attempt to land.

In space, the rocket’s second stage will separate from the nose cone, which is jettisoned into space. This is followed by Roman separating from the launch vehicle.

To generate power and protect the spacecraft’s sensitive payload, Roman’s solar panels and sunshade will be deployed. According to NASA’s mission fact sheet, each of the space telescope’s six solar panels measures about 7 by 10 feet (2 by 3 meters) and is covered in a total of 3,902 solar cells.

When fully deployed, the panels will combine to provide up to 4 kilowatts of power. For comparison, the mission site says that it is “about the same rate that a modest rooftop solar panel system produces during the daytime.”

The Next 30 Days

Roman will spend the next 30 days speeding toward its final destination, a relatively stable location in the solar system called Lagrange 2, located roughly 930,000 to 1 million miles (1.5 to 1.6 million kilometers) from Earth.

During that journey, the craft’s antenna and deployable aperture will deploy. NASA says the carbon composite radio dish is 5.6 feet (1.7 meters) in diameter. For comparison, the space organization compared its height to an average refrigerator but noted it “weighs only 24 pounds (10.9 kilograms).”

“Its large size will help Roman send radio signals across a million miles of intervening space to Earth,” NASA explained.

One band of the dual-band antenna will receive commands from mission control and return information about the spacecraft’s location and overall health. The second band will communicate what NASA termed “a deluge of data at up to 500 megabits per second.”

About halfway through its voyage, Roman will make a course correction. During that same phase, the spacecraft’s Coronograph instrument will power up. The telescope’s other primary sensor, the Wide Field Instrument, will activate a few weeks later.

“With all components fully deployed, NASA said Roman is over 42 feet (12.7 meters long) and over 14 feet (4.4 meters) wide. The space agency said these dimensions make Roman “about the size of a tour bus.”

Finally, NASA said that throughout the rest of its 90-day commissioning period, both the antenna and Coronagraph “will run through a series of calibrations and tests.”

First Images Expected in 2027

Although the agency did not specify an exact date for the space telescope’s first light, the Roman team said it “anticipates releasing new images by early 2027.” For detailed updates, you can also follow NASA’s official Roman blog.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org.