NASA: New Map of the Universe from SPHEREx Telescope

NASA has released a new map of the universe, created with the «SPHEREx» space telescope. The mapping of the entire sky offers a three-dimensional view, revealing cosmic dust, hydrogen, and stars.

The SPHEREx telescope uses infrared light, invisible to the human eye, to measure the distance from hundreds of millions of galaxies. Red galaxies are farther away, while blue ones are closer, due to the phenomenon of «redshift».

The data, collected since March, will help scientists study the evolution of galaxies and the creation of the basic components of life. SPHEREx orbits the Earth 14.5 times a day, collecting data on more than 450 million galaxies and 100 million stars.

SPHEREx uses six detectors with 17 color filters, creating 102 maps of the entire sky. The SPHEREx mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and the total cost is estimated at US$488 million.