How SPHEREx Will Outperform James Webb
While the James Webb Space Telescope has provided breathtakingly detailed images of deep space, its focus has been on zooming in on specific cosmic targets, such as distant galaxies, newly forming stars, and exoplanets. SPHEREx, however, is designed to survey the entire sky, collecting data across 102 different infrared colors—a far greater range than JWST.
This telescope, shaped like a megaphone, will take 600 images per day, gradually building an all-sky map every six months. Over its 27-month mission, it will complete four full scans of the night sky, offering an expansive view of the cosmos on a scale never achieved before. At 8.5 feet tall and 10.5 feet wide, SPHEREx is slightly larger than JWST, allowing it to capture massive amounts of data on millions of celestial objects in a short period.
Unlike JWST, which primarily focuses on deep-space targets, SPHEREx will be able to trace large-scale cosmic patterns, potentially revealing hidden aspects of how the universe evolved. It will serve as a crucial data source for future space missions, helping other telescopes, including JWST and the upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, to target specific regions of interest.
Could SPHEREx Solve the Mystery of the Big Bang?
One of SPHEREx’s most exciting missions is to help answer how the universe came into existence. Scientists believe that in the first billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang, the universe underwent an event called cosmic inflation, expanding at an incomprehensible speed. While evidence of this event is embedded in the structure of the universe, it has never been fully mapped—until now. By surveying the entire sky, SPHEREx will map the distribution of over 450 million galaxies, helping scientists understand how matter was spread across the cosmos after the Big Bang. This large-scale map could offer groundbreaking insights into the forces that shaped the universe, providing a clearer picture of how galaxies formed and evolved over billions of years. In addition to unraveling the universe’s origins, SPHEREx will also focus on our own galaxy, the Milky Way, mapping over 100 million stars and tracing the fundamental building blocks of life hidden in interstellar clouds of gas and dust. These organic molecules, frozen in deep space, could provide crucial clues about how life began not just on Earth, but potentially on other planets as well.
The Future of Space Exploration
NASA has described SPHEREx as a “game-changer”, not just for its technological advancements, but also for the way it will shape future space exploration. Its massive cosmic survey will act as a roadmap for future discoveries, guiding astronomers to regions of space that require deeper investigation.
By capturing the collective glow of the universe, SPHEREx will also provide insight into the major sources of light in space, helping scientists better understand the structure and evolution of galaxies across time. With its ability to map cosmic history in detail, this telescope could bring us closer than ever before to understanding how the universe, and ultimately life itself, came to be.
As the world awaits the launch of SPHEREx, one thing is certain: this isn’t just another space mission—it’s a bold step toward uncovering the very fabric of existence.