Roman's Galactic Bulge Time Domain Survey Graphics

For the Galactic Bulge Time Domain Survey, Roman will aim its expansive view at the center of our galaxy and observe a two-square-degree region in infrared wavelengths that cut through the obscuring dust to reveal millions of stars.

Roman’s main objective in the Galactic Bulge Time Domain Survey is finding new planets and black holes. Astronomers anticipate that Roman could discover over 1,000 microlensing and 100,000 transiting planets from this survey alone. Observatories like the James Webb Space Telescope can then follow up with a narrower, more targeted view and learn key details about the most interesting discoveries.

Simulated image of a small portion of Roman's galactic bulge survey. This animation includes a tiling effect to illustrate that Roman will take a new image every 2 minutes for more than 62 days and then repeat this six times over five years for a total of 400 days of coverage. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Matthew Penny (Louisiana State University)