December 23, 2025

The complete map obtained thanks to the SPHEREx space telescope, with infrared emissions generated mainly by dust (red) and hot gas (blue), key ingredients in the formation of new stars and planets

NASA has published the first cosmic map generated using observations from its SPHEREx space telescope. In particular, these observations include 102 wavelengths in the near-infrared. What NASA has defined as 102 colors offer a wealth of different information about the observed objects, valuable in a variety of cosmological studies. The wealth of information is such that NASA treats them as if they had obtained 102 different maps.