SPHEREx Spacecraft and Observing Animations

SPHEREx is a small, highly-capable astronomy satellite mission that will map out the entire sky in 102 colors of infrared light from its vantage point in a low-Earth orbit. The spacecraft bus is powered by Sun-facing, rectangular solar panels.The white, conical Sun shield keeps the inner telescope components at a cool temperature that enables the detectors to operate with high sensitivity. The Sun shields are faded out at the end of the sequence to provide an unobstructed view of the telescope components.Credit: NASA/JPL-CaltechWatch this video on the JPLraw YouTube channel.JPL Page

SPHEREx takes spectral imaging data across the entire sky while operating from a low-Earth orbit. This animation provides a simplified view of how, over time, the telescope will map out the entire sky. Because different areas on its detectors are sensitive to different parts of the infrared spectrum, each spot in the sky will have to be revisited 102 times to produce separate sky maps at each of these colors.The main view shows how this map is built up, tile by tile, while SPHEREx orbits Earth. The inset provides an overview of the cumulative coverage across the entire sky over seven months. After 25 months of science operations, SPHEREx will deliver all-sky coverage in four independent surveys.Credit: NASA/JPL-CaltechWatch this video on the JPLraw YouTube channel.JPL Page

This animation provides a simplified view of the novel strategy employed by SPHEREx to map out the entire sky in 102 different colors of infrared light.SPHEREx leverages the reduced launch cost and robust data uplink and downlink available by operating in a low-Earth orbit. That orbit, shown as a yellow band at the start of this animation, follows Earth’s terminator, the dividing line between day and night. This allows the spacecraft’s solar panels to perpetually face the Sun, allowing for uninterrupted power during the mission. The need to avoid the heat and stray light of Earth and the Sun, as well as the stray light from the Moon, limits the telescope to remain pointed within the “orbit-varying allowable pointing zone” shown in green. Within this zone, advanced software developed for SPHEREx at Arizona State University is used to plan efficient operations.The SPHEREx detectors use a novel design where different regions of the imaging chips are sensitive to different colors of infrared light. For clarity, this animation simplifies the six-chip, 102 -color design to a single field with six distinct colors. SPHEREx takes spectral imaging data on a single part of the sky for as long as it stays in the orbit-varying allowable pointing zone, then makes a large slew to point the telescope at the other side of the zone before continuing observations.Over time, this strategy allows every point in the sky to be observed at least 102 times, corresponding to 102 different colors of infrared light. Credit: NASA/JPL-CaltechWatch this video on the JPLraw YouTube channel.JPL page