NASA’s soon-to-launch telescope will give the largest view of space ever. Here’s how it works

NASA's Roman Space Telescope launches soon, with a field of view 100 times larger than Hubble's, offering a sweeping new look at the night sky.

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New NASA telescope gives largest view of space ever. Here’s how it works

Data Journalist

WASHINGTON —

NASA is preparing to launch a new telescope next week that will be able to capture more of the night sky than ever before.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is scheduled to launch Aug. 30 and will aim to collect data on other galaxies. It will be able to capture a larger frame of view than other telescopes have been able to, giving researchers access to more data than ever.

The public may have a first look in December, with data publicly available soon after.

What is the difference between the Roman, Webb and Hubble telescopes?

The Roman space telescope isn’t intended to replace the previously launched Hubble Space and James Webb Space telescopes. Instead, it will supplement and work together with them for further exploration of space.

The Roman telescope has a field of view at least 100 times larger than the other two telescopes’ fields of view, making it a lot easier to survey the sky.

Thinking about it like photography, the Roman telescope is like a panoramic lens showing the entire landscape, according to Ori Fox, Roman Space Telescope Deputy Project Scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute.

“Once you see something in that landscape that’s interesting, you can then zoom in,” Fox said. “But you need a zoom lens. That zoom lens is your Hubble or Webb.”

The Hubble telescope supplements the surveying work done by the Roman by having the ability to look closer at targets with ultraviolet, some visible and near-infrared light.

The Webb telescope also functions like a zoom lens, except it can see red to mid-infrared light, allowing the oldest galaxies to be viewed.

What is the Roman telescope looking for?

The Roman telescope has a few primary objectives, including studying dark energy, finding and identifying planets outside of the solar system, and surveying the sky.

The Hubble telescope, in its 35 years of operation, has observed about 0.1% of the night sky, while the Roman telescope will observe more than 12%.

The large amounts of data collected from the Roman telescope will also become available to anyone without a proprietary period as soon as it’s processed, according to Fox, which was not the case for the Webb and Hubble telescopes.

“We really hope that these datasets will be so expansive and wide that beyond the primary questions that we’re trying to answer, you’ll be able to answer a whole slew of other questions,” Fox said.