Alaska Headline Living5d ago
🛰️ These lines aren’t stars. They are satellites moving through telescope images during observation, leaving behind streaks that scientists now have to account for in their data.
With low Earth orbit getting more crowded, what solutions are actually in place to manage it?
https://shorturl.at/y2rQC
#Space #Astronomy #ScienceNews #NASA #Satellites #NightSky #SPHEREx #SpaceJunk
Daniel Fischer6d ago
#SPHEREx confirms predictions for artificial #SatelliteTrail pollution in #LowEarthOrbit: https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.27501 -> "SPHEREx observations obtained between May and September 2025 indicate that 73[...]% of the images already show satellite trail contamination, with an average number of N=2[...] trails per exposure, providing observational validation of the published light contamination models."
SPHEREx confirms predictions for artificial satellite trail pollution in Low Earth Orbit

The number of artificial satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is increasing at an exponential rate since 2019. Satellites are visible to both ground and space telescopes, and their bright emission in optical, infrared, and radio-wavelengths contaminate astronomical observations, degrading the data's scientific value. Recent simulations forecast that if all satellite constellations listed in current launch manifests are deployed to LEO, satellite trails will appear in up to 96\% of the images obtained by most space telescopes. In this article, we use the recently launched SPHEREx space telescope to corroborate these models. SPHEREx observations obtained between May and September 2025 indicate that $73.3^{+1.3}_{-1.2}\%$ of the images already show satellite trail contamination, with an average number of $N=2.18^{+0.11}_{-0.09}$ trails per exposure, providing observational validation of the published light contamination models. The observed satellite trails display highly inclined trajectories in agreement with the simulated ones. We discuss potential data reduction mitigation methods, and provide an updated satellite light pollution forecast for \emph{Hubble} and SPHEREx including the newer satellite constellations proposed in early 2026.

arXiv.org
3i/AtlasMay 26
SPHEREx more than doubled the confirmed population of heavily reddened quasars at cosmic noon — and the new sample may catch supermassive black holes as they begin clearing the dust around them
https://atlas.whatip.xyz/post.php?slug=spherex-more-than-doubled-the-confirmed-population-of-heavily-reddened-quasars-at-cosmic-noon-and-the-new-sample-may-catch-supermassive-black-holes-as-they-begin-clearing-the-dust-around-them
<p>SPHEREx has opened a much wider window onto one of the dustiest phases of black hole growth
#confirmed #reddened #spherex #heavily
SPHEREx more than doubled the confirmed population of heavily reddened quasars at cosmic noon — and the new sample may catch supermassive black holes as they begin clearing the dust around them

SPHEREx has opened a much wider window onto one of the dustiest phases of black hole growth. In a new all-sky infrared analysis, researchers confirmed 77 new heavily reddened quasars, more than doubli...

3i/AtlasApr 20
NASA’s SPHEREx Telescope Just Mapped the Cosmic Ices That Will Someday Build Planets
https://atlas.whatip.xyz/post.php?slug=nasas-spherex-telescope-just-mapped-the-cosmic-ices-that-will-someday-build-planets
<p>New missions mean new capabilities - and one particularly interesting new mission is finally up and running
#telescope #spherex #mapped #cosmic
NASA’s SPHEREx Telescope Just Mapped the Cosmic Ices That Will Someday Build Planets

New missions mean new capabilities - and one particularly interesting new mission is finally up and running. Data is starting to come in from SPHEREx, the medium-class surveyor that is mapping the ent...

Daniel PomarèdeApr 18

The NASA Minute: April 17, 2026

Artemis II is safely home, the X‑59 ramps up flight testing, Cygnus docks with the Space Station, and SPHEREx uncovers mysteries of the universe.

Here’s what you need to know in your NASA Minute.

#Artemis #X59 #Cygnus #ISS #SPHEREx

Source: https://images.nasa.gov/details/NASA%20Minute%20April%2017,%202026

Jim CareyApr 17
NASA's SPHEREx Observatory Maps Interstellar Ice in Milky Way https://www.nasa.gov/image-detail/shape-2999-2999-2/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #NASA #SPHEREx #MilkyWay #Astrophysics #SpaceExploration
3i/AtlasApr 17
NASA’s SPHEREx Observatory Maps Interstellar Ice in Milky Way
https://atlas.whatip.xyz/post.php?slug=nasas-spherex-observatory-maps-interstellar-ice-in-milky-way
<p>An observation made by NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe
#interstellar #observatory #spherex #milky
NASA’s SPHEREx Observatory Maps Interstellar Ice in Milky Way

An observation made by NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) shows the chemical signatures of water ice (shown in bright blue) a...

Daniel FischerApr 16
SPHEREx Widefield Infrared Spectral Mapping of Interstellar Ices and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae5180 -> ‘Interstellar Glaciers’ - NASA’s #SPHEREx Maps Vast Galactic Ice Regions: https://www.nasa.gov/missions/spherex/interstellar-glaciers-nasas-spherex-maps-vast-galactic-ice-regions/
SPHEREx Widefield Infrared Spectral Mapping of Interstellar Ices and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

SPHEREx Widefield Infrared Spectral Mapping of Interstellar Ices and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Hora, Joseph L., Noh, Jinyoung K., Melnick, Gary J., Hensley, Brandon S., Paladini, Roberta, Lee, Jeong-Eun, Ashby, Matthew L. N., Tolls, Volker, Kim, Jaeyeong, Werner, Michael W., Bock, James J., Bruton, Sean, Chen, Shuang-Shuang, Chang, Tzu-Ching, Chiang, Yi-Kuan, Cooray, Asantha, Crill, Brendan P., Cukierman, Ari J., Doré, Olivier, Faisst, Andreas L., Huai, Zhaoyu, Hui, Howard, Jeong, Woong-Seob, Kang, Miju, Korngut, Phil M., Lee, Ho-Gyu, Lisse, Carey M., Masters, Daniel C., Murgia, Giulia, Nguyen, Chi H., Rustamkulov, Zafar, Seok, Ji Yeon, Wen, Robin Y., Yang, Yujin, Zemcov, Michael

3i/AtlasApr 15
‘Interstellar Glaciers’: NASA’s SPHEREx Maps Vast Galactic Ice Regions
https://atlas.whatip.xyz/post.php?slug=interstellar-glaciers-nasas-spherex-maps-vast-galactic-ice-regions
<p>NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe
#interstellar #glaciers #spherex #regions
‘Interstellar Glaciers’: NASA’s SPHEREx Maps Vast Galactic Ice Regions

NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) mission has mapped interstellar ice at an unprecedented scale. Covering regions in our Mil...

3i/AtlasApr 15
NASA’s SPHEREx Mission Maps Water Ice Throughout Cygnus X
https://atlas.whatip.xyz/post.php?slug=nasas-spherex-mission-maps-water-ice-throughout-cygnus-x
<p>Description An observation made by NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe
#throughout #spherex #mission #cygnus
NASA’s SPHEREx Mission Maps Water Ice Throughout Cygnus X

Description An observation made by NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) shows the chemical signatures of water ice (shown in br...