Millions of Galaxies Emerge in New Simulated Images From NASA's Roman
Released on March 8, 2023
Scientists have created a gargantuan synthetic survey that shows what we can expect from the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s future observations. Though it represents just a small chunk of the real future survey, this simulated version contains a staggering number of galaxies – 33 million of them, along with 200,000 foreground stars in our home galaxy.
The simulation will help scientists plan the best observing strategies, test different ways to mine the mission’s vast quantities of data, and explore what we can learn from tandem observations with other telescopes.
The team drew data from a mock universe originally developed to support science planning with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which is located in Chile and set to begin full operations in 2024. Because the Roman and Rubin simulations use the same source, astronomers can compare them and see what they can expect to learn from pairing the telescopes’ observations once they’re both actively scanning the universe.