SPHEREx: An All-sky Infrared Spectral Survey Explorer Satellite

Event Date:
2025-01-20T16:00:00
2025-01-20T17:00:00
Event Location:
HENN 318
Speaker:
Jamie Bock, Marvin L. Goldberger Prof. of Physics, California Institute of Technology and Sr. Research Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Related Upcoming Events:
Astronomy Colloquia
Intended Audience:
Everyone
Local Contact:

Allison Man (aman@phas.ubc.ca) and Brett Gladman (gladman@astro.ubc.ca)

All are welcome to this event!

Event Information:

Abstract:

SPHEREx, a mission in NASA's Medium Explorer (MIDEX) program, is an all-sky survey satellite designed to address three science goals with a single instrument, a wide-field spectral imager.  SPHEREx will probe the physics of inflation through measurements of non-Gaussianity by studying large-scale structure, surveying a large cosmological volume at low redshifts, complementing high-z surveys optimized to constrain dark energy. The origin of water and biogenic molecules will be investigated in all phases of planetary system formation - from molecular clouds to young stellar systems with protoplanetary disks - by measuring ice absorption spectra. We will chart the origin and history of galaxy formation by mapping large-scale spatial power in two deep fields located near the ecliptic poles. Following in the tradition of all-sky missions, SPHEREx will be the first all-sky near-infrared spectral survey, creating spectra (0.75 – 4.2 um at R = 40, and 4.2 – 5 um at R = 135) with high sensitivity using a cooled telescope with a wide field-of-view for large mapping speed.  During its two-year mission, planned to begin in early 2025, SPHEREx will produce four complete all-sky maps that will serve as a rich archive for the astronomy community.  With over a billion detected galaxies, hundreds of millions of high-quality stellar and galactic spectra, and over a million ice absorption spectra, the archive will enable diverse scientific investigations including studies of young stellar systems, brown dwarfs, high-redshift quasars, galaxy clusters, the interstellar medium, asteroids and comets.

Bio:

Prof. Bock came to cosmology only at the end of his PhD. At Berkeley, he wrote his thesis on sounding rocket observations of carbon emission in the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM), where he also helped develop the instruments used to make these observations. While he was writing his thesis, physicists Prof. Paul Richards and Prof. Andrew Lange were studying the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) with competing balloon missions, hoping to measure the geometry of the universe. “To distract me from that task (thesis writing)” Bock says, “I got involved in developing detectors for BOOMERanG” (Prof. Lange’s experiment). These new bolometers (which could be made incredibly sensitive) also ended up on Prof. Richards’s MAXIMA experiment. Eventually, both missions were smashing successes, and both found evidence for a flat universe! Bolometers like these continued to be critical for experimental cosmology missions, such as the Planck satellite and Prof. Bock’s more recent experiments like BICEP, now focusing on measuring the polarization of the CMB. [from Astrobites]

Learn More:

Add to Calendar 2025-01-20T16:00:00 2025-01-20T17:00:00 SPHEREx: An All-sky Infrared Spectral Survey Explorer Satellite Event Information: Abstract: SPHEREx, a mission in NASA's Medium Explorer (MIDEX) program, is an all-sky survey satellite designed to address three science goals with a single instrument, a wide-field spectral imager.  SPHEREx will probe the physics of inflation through measurements of non-Gaussianity by studying large-scale structure, surveying a large cosmological volume at low redshifts, complementing high-z surveys optimized to constrain dark energy. The origin of water and biogenic molecules will be investigated in all phases of planetary system formation - from molecular clouds to young stellar systems with protoplanetary disks - by measuring ice absorption spectra. We will chart the origin and history of galaxy formation by mapping large-scale spatial power in two deep fields located near the ecliptic poles. Following in the tradition of all-sky missions, SPHEREx will be the first all-sky near-infrared spectral survey, creating spectra (0.75 – 4.2 um at R = 40, and 4.2 – 5 um at R = 135) with high sensitivity using a cooled telescope with a wide field-of-view for large mapping speed.  During its two-year mission, planned to begin in early 2025, SPHEREx will produce four complete all-sky maps that will serve as a rich archive for the astronomy community.  With over a billion detected galaxies, hundreds of millions of high-quality stellar and galactic spectra, and over a million ice absorption spectra, the archive will enable diverse scientific investigations including studies of young stellar systems, brown dwarfs, high-redshift quasars, galaxy clusters, the interstellar medium, asteroids and comets. Bio: Prof. Bock came to cosmology only at the end of his PhD. At Berkeley, he wrote his thesis on sounding rocket observations of carbon emission in the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM), where he also helped develop the instruments used to make these observations. While he was writing his thesis, physicists Prof. Paul Richards and Prof. Andrew Lange were studying the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) with competing balloon missions, hoping to measure the geometry of the universe. “To distract me from that task (thesis writing)” Bock says, “I got involved in developing detectors for BOOMERanG” (Prof. Lange’s experiment). These new bolometers (which could be made incredibly sensitive) also ended up on Prof. Richards’s MAXIMA experiment. Eventually, both missions were smashing successes, and both found evidence for a flat universe! Bolometers like these continued to be critical for experimental cosmology missions, such as the Planck satellite and Prof. Bock’s more recent experiments like BICEP, now focusing on measuring the polarization of the CMB. [from Astrobites] Learn More: View his personal website here: https://pma.caltech.edu/people/james-j-jamie-bock See his research website here: https://cosmology.caltech.edu/ Read up on the SPHEREx project and team: https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/projects/spherex/ SPHEREx goals: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2018AAS...23135425L/abstract SPHEREx news and updates: https://spherex.caltech.edu/news/spherex-submitted-as-a-nasa-medium-class-explorer  Event Location: HENN 318