What The Nancy Grace Roman 'Scope Will See / Map... In About A Year. Amazing!

To be certain, in most of the sciences (despite the odd examples we report on here), the dank darkness -- of ignorance. . . is being pushed backward, into the background, day by day -- and illuminated, by excellent -- and more than occasionally. . . female genius scientists.

And Nancy Grace Roman clearly fits all those bills.

We've spoken of her before -- and of the coming 2026 mission. . . but now we have. . . video, to explain what she's looking for: a map of our Milky Way galaxy, edge on. . . across its whole breadth. That is nearly a million light years across. Wow. Here is all that, from NASA | JPL:

. . .This visualization begins with a view of the Homunculus Nebula, which houses the massive binary star Eta Carinae, as imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. The view pulls back to reveal the wider Carina Nebula — a giant, relatively nearby star-forming region in the southern sky. A single Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope pointing will cover more than the Hubble image, which was built from multiple pointings. Roman will view more of the Carina Nebula repeatedly over time with six pointings, allowing astronomers to observe any changes that take place.

The entire nebula as well as its surroundings, including a 10,000 light-year-long swath of the spiral arm it resides in, are included in the overall Roman Galactic Plane Survey. The full survey will cover 691 square degrees and is to be completed over the course of two years. The observations will offer an unparalleled opportunity to watch how stars grow, interact, and sculpt their environments, and it’s just one of many thousands of highlights astronomers are looking forward to from this Roman survey. . . .

“The Galactic Plane Survey will revolutionize our understanding of the Milky Way,” said Julie McEnery, Roman’s senior project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “We’ll be able to explore the mysterious far side of our galaxy and its star-studded heart. Because of the survey’s breadth and depth, it will be a scientific mother lode.”



The Galactic Plane Survey is Roman’s first selected general astrophysics survey — one of many observation programs Roman will do in addition to its three core surveys and Coronagraph technology demonstration. At least 25% of Roman’s five-year primary mission is reserved for astronomers worldwide to propose more surveys beyond the core programs, fully leveraging Roman’s capabilities to conduct groundbreaking science. Roman is slated to launch by May 2027, but the team is on track for launch as early as fall 2026. . . .

Now you know -- grinning -- what an amazing time to be alive, and in possession of the ability to learn. . . all the sciences!

नमस्ते