Korea's Aerospace Administration announced Monday that the SPHEREx space telescope, jointly developed by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) and NASA, has released its first all-sky map image following successful observations.
SPHEREx orbits Earth approximately 14.5 times per day, capturing about 3,600 images of the night sky. The all-sky map is a mosaic image synthesized from photographs taken in all 360-degree directions over six months of orbit.
The released image captures infrared light emitted from stars in various colors including blue, green, and white, as well as hot hydrogen gas shown in blue and cosmic dust appearing in red. The research team observed a total of 102 infrared wavelengths and converted them into visible light to complete the image.
SPHEREx all-sky observation data will be used for major scientific missions exploring the history of the universe, galaxy formation and evolution, and water and ice that are the origins of life.
The mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), with data analysis involving 10 U.S. institutions and Korean scientists including Dr. Jung Woong-seob's research team at KASI. Korean researchers are playing a significant role not only in participating in major scientific missions and data processing but also in scientific analysis of observation data across various research topics.
The international joint research team plans to conduct three additional all-sky observations during SPHEREx's two-year primary mission period. They plan to combine this data to complete a three-dimensional integrated map with improved measurement sensitivity. All processed data will be released worldwide for free use by scientists and the general public.
