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<\/figure>NASA\u2019s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope<\/a> team has announced plans for an unprecedented survey of the plane of our Milky Way galaxy. It will peer deeper into this region than any other survey, mapping more of our galaxy\u2019s stars than all previous observations combined.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a really broad range of science we can explore with this type of survey, from star formation and evolution to dust in between stars and the dynamics of the heart of the galaxy,\u201d said Catherine Zucker, an astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian<\/a> in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who co-authored a white paper<\/a> describing some of the benefits of such an observing program.<\/p>\n A galactic plane survey was the top-ranked submission following a 2021 call for Roman survey ideas. Now, the scientific community will work together to design the observational program ahead of Roman\u2019s launch by May 2027.<\/p>\n \u201cThere will be lots of trade-offs since scientists will have to choose between, for example, how much area to cover and how completely to map it in all the different possible filters,\u201d said paper co-author Robert Benjamin, an astronomer at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.<\/p>\n While the details of the survey remain to be determined, scientists say if it covered about 1,000 square degrees \u2013 a region of sky as large as 5,000 full moons \u2013 it could reveal well over 100 billion cosmic objects (mainly stars).<\/p>\n \u201cThat would be pretty close to a complete census of all the stars in our galaxy, and it would only take around a month,\u201d said Roberta Paladini, a senior research scientist at Caltech\/IPAC<\/a> in Pasadena, California, and the white paper\u2019s lead author. \u201cIt would take decades to observe such a large patch of the sky with the Hubble or James Webb space telescopes. Roman will be a survey machine!\u201d<\/p>\n Milky Way Anatomy<\/strong><\/p>\n Observatories with smaller views of space have provided exquisite images of other galaxies, revealing complex structures. But studying our own galaxy\u2019s anatomy is surprisingly difficult. The plane of the Milky Way covers such a large area on the sky that studying it in detail can take a very long time. Astronomers also must peer through thick dust that obscures distant starlight.<\/p>\n While we\u2019ve studied our solar system\u2019s neighborhood well, Zucker says, \u201cwe have a very incomplete view of what the other half of that Milky Way looks like beyond the galactic center.\u201d<\/p>\n Observatories like NASA\u2019s retired Spitzer Space Telescope<\/a> have conducted large-area surveys of the galactic plane in longer wavelengths of light and revealed some star-forming regions on the far side of the galaxy. But it couldn\u2019t resolve fine details like Roman will do.<\/p>\n \u201cSpitzer set up the questions that Roman will be able to solve,\u201d Benjamin said.<\/p>\n Roman\u2019s combination of a large field of view, crisp resolution, and the ability to peer through dust make it the ideal instrument to study the Milky Way. And seeing stars in different wavelengths of light \u2013 optical and infrared \u2013 will help astronomers learn things such as the stars\u2019 temperatures. That one piece of information unlocks much more data, from the star\u2019s evolutionary stage and composition to its luminosity and size.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can do very detailed studies of things like star formation and the structure of our own galaxy in a way that we can\u2019t do for any other galaxy,\u201d Paladini said.<\/p>\n Roman will offer new insights about the structure of the central region known as the bulge, the \u201cbar\u201d that stretches across it, and the spiral arms that extend from it.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll basically rewrite the 3D picture of the far side of the galaxy,\u201d Zucker said.<\/p>\n Roman\u2019s sharp vision will help astronomers see individual stars even in stellar nurseries on the far side of the galaxy. That will help Roman generate a huge new catalog of stars since it will be able to map 10 times farther than previous precision mapping by ESA\u2019s (the European Space Agency\u2019s) Gaia space mission. Gaia mapped over 1 billion stars in 3D largely within about 10,000 light-years. Roman could map up to 100 billion stars 100,000 light-years away or more (stretching out to the most distant edge of our galaxy and beyond).<\/p>\n The Galactic Plane Survey is Roman\u2019s first announced general astrophysics survey<\/a> \u2013 one of several observation programs Roman will do in addition to its three core community surveys<\/a> and Coronagraph technology demonstration<\/a>. At least 25% of Roman\u2019s five-year primary mission will be allocated to general astrophysics surveys in order to pursue science that can\u2019t be done with only the mission\u2019s core community survey data. Astronomers from all over the world will have the opportunity to use Roman and propose cutting-edge research, enabling the astronomical community to utilize the full potential of Roman\u2019s capabilities to conduct extraordinary science.<\/p>\n The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with participation by NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech\/IPAC in Southern California, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, and a science team comprising scientists from various research institutions. The primary industrial partners are BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado; L3Harris Technologies in Melbourne, Florida; and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging in Thousand Oaks, California.<\/p>\n Download high-resolution video and images from NASA\u2019s Scientific Visualization Studio<\/a><\/p>\n By Ashley Balzer<\/em><\/strong> Media contact:<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Claire Andreoli<\/em><\/strong>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/wh.png?w=1770\")
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NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, Greenbelt, Md.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, Greenbelt, Md.<\/em><\/strong>
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov<\/strong>
<\/em><\/a>301-286-1940<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nExplore More<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
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