

NASA's SPHEREx Is Poised To Launch Mission To Map 450 Million Galaxies In Color (nbcnews.com) 20
NASA's SPHEREx observatory (short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) is set to launch this week to map 450 million galaxies in infrared, providing insights into galaxy formation, the origins of water, and testing theories about the universe's rapid expansion following the Big Bang. The two-year mission will repeatedly survey the entire sky and help scientists understand fundamental cosmic processes. NBC News reports: The launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California is scheduled to occur Friday, during a window that opens at 10:09 p.m. ET. Liftoff was initially planned for Feb. 27, but NASA rescheduled it several times, first to "complete vehicle processing and prelaunch checkouts," and because of availability at the California launch site.
The cone-shaped spacecraft -- along with four suitcase-sized satellites that NASA will deploy at the same time on a separate mission to study the sun -- will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The $488 million SPHEREx mission, which has been in development for about a decade, is designed to map the celestial sky in 102 infrared colors -- more than any other mission before it, according to NASA.
The cone-shaped spacecraft -- along with four suitcase-sized satellites that NASA will deploy at the same time on a separate mission to study the sun -- will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The $488 million SPHEREx mission, which has been in development for about a decade, is designed to map the celestial sky in 102 infrared colors -- more than any other mission before it, according to NASA.
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Re: rsilvergun weighs 450 million kgs (he ate pagp (Score:1)
Wow, creimer, that's a name I haven't seen in a while. Poor guy's probably really dead after.
Re: rsilvergun weighs 450 million kgs (he ate pag (Score:1)
I think creimer is dead. I talked a bit about the VIC-20 with him, followed his escapades, but since about two years ... nothing.
Infrared is false color at best. (Score:2)
Perhaps these folks should have said three hundred wavelengths. Infrared does not have colors because colors are a matter of perception tied to the visual spectrum, which infra-red is not part of, by definitition.
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Those of us in the business have no problem referring to IR (or UV for that matter) wavelengths as "colors."
For that matter, most "colors" that we trichromats sense are the result of a combination of incoming wavelengths. I see no reason why we can't identify an HSV colorspace for some range of NIR wavelengths.
102 infrared colours (Score:2)
"is designed to map the celestial sky in 102 infrared colors"
What is "102 infrared colours"? What is an "infrared colour"?
Re: 102 infrared colours (Score:1)
What's a "colour?" Is it by chance a corruption of "color?"
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https://www.oed.com/search/dic... [oed.com]
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450 million galaxies! (Score:2)
Maybe in future years we will know how to travel there. I want a galaxy that has a star with a planet like Earth.
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Easiest way would be to convert to Mormon.
You mean to tell me (Score:2)
this hasn't been cancelled by the Musk Ox yet? It will be in 3..2..1..