NASA’s Next Great Space Telescope Is Ready for Launch
Rutgers astrophysicist Kristen McQuinn explains what the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope could reveal about the universe
NASA is preparing to launch a space telescope designed not only to look deeply into the universe, but to survey it on a scale never before possible.
Rutgers astrophysicist Kristen McQuinn is a lead scientist on this mission.
A rocket carrying the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is scheduled to lift off Sunday at 7:26 a.m. EDT from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Although its main mirror is the same size as the one on the Hubble Space Telescope, Roman will have a field of view at least 100 times larger, allowing it to capture enormous expanses of the sky in extraordinary detail.
Scientists will use Roman to investigate dark energy and dark matter, search for planets beyond our solar system and explore how galaxies and other structures formed and changed over time.
McQuinn, an associate professor in the department of Physics and Astronomy in the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences, is the mission head of Roman’s Science Operations Center at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.
She discusses what makes the Roman telescope different, what scientists hope it will reveal and what happens after the scientific instrument leaves Earth.
What is the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, and what is NASA sending it into space to do?
Roman is NASA’s next flagship astrophysics mission, meaning it is one of the agency’s largest and most ambitious space observatories. It is named for Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief astronomer, who is often called the “mother of Hubble” because of the central role she played in making that telescope possible.
Roman is designed to survey large regions of the universe in infrared light, which is light our eyes cannot see. Its main goals are to help scientists understand how the universe has evolved, investigate the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter and discover planets orbiting other stars.
Its observations will also support research on subjects ranging from nearby stars to some of the most distant galaxies we can see.
We already have the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. What will Roman be able to do that they cannot?
Each observatory brings different strengths.
Hubble remains essential for its sharp views across ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared light, including valuable ultraviolet data that Roman and Webb cannot collect.
Webb can examine individual objects in extraordinary detail, particularly in infrared light.
Roman will complement both by surveying much wider areas, discovering rare objects and events and revealing how galaxies, stars and planets fit into their larger surroundings. It may also identify promising targets for Hubble, Webb and other telescopes to study more closely.
The Nancy Grace Roman Telescope is named for Nancy Grace Roman, NASA's first chief astronomer. (NASA video)
Two of Roman’s major targets are dark matter and dark energy. What are they, and how can a telescope study something described as “dark”?
Dark matter and dark energy are two different mysteries. Dark matter does not produce or reflect light, but scientists know it is present because of the gravitational effects it has on galaxies and other objects. Dark energy is the name scientists give to the mysterious force that is causing the expansion of the universe to speed up.
Roman will observe enormous numbers of galaxies and exploding stars across vast distances. Scientists will use those observations to measure how the universe has expanded over time and how matter is distributed across space.
The goal is not necessarily for Roman to take a picture of dark matter or dark energy, but to measure their effects with far greater precision. That could help us understand what the universe is made of, how it developed and what may happen to it in the distant future.
How will Roman search for planets beyond our solar system?
Roman will use a method called gravitational microlensing. When one star passes almost directly in front of a more distant star, the gravity of the closer star bends and magnifies the background star’s light, acting like a natural magnifying glass. If a planet is orbiting the closer star, it can create an additional brief change in that light. Roman will repeatedly observe crowded fields of stars near the center of the Milky Way to look for these signals. NASA expects the survey to reveal more than 1,000 planets.
Roman will also find hundreds of thousands of planets beyond our solar system by watching for the slight dimming of a star when a planet passes in front of it. Astronomers have found only about 6,000 exoplanets so far, so Roman could dramatically expand our understanding of planets throughout the galaxy.
Roman also carries a coronagraph, an instrument that blocks the overwhelming glare of a star so astronomers can directly observe much fainter planets and disks of material around it. The coronagraph is primarily a technology demonstration that could help prepare the way for future telescopes capable of directly studying planets more like Earth.
What does your role as mission head involve, and what will launch day mean to you?
I lead the team responsible for many of the systems that will turn Roman’s observations into usable scientific information. That includes planning and scheduling the telescope’s observations, processing and calibrating images from its Wide Field Instrument and operating the archive and science platform through which researchers will access the data. In many ways, the Science Operations Center is the bridge between the telescope in space and the scientists on Earth who will use what it observes.
Launch day will be both the culmination of years of preparation and the beginning of the mission’s most important work. We have spent years building and testing the systems needed to support Roman. What excites me most is knowing that astronomers around the world will soon begin using its data, not only to answer questions we already have, but also to make discoveries none of us has yet imagined.
What do you hope Roman will mean for the next generation?
I hope Roman inspires young people to become scientists, ask bold questions and help humanity better understand where we came from and our place in the universe.
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