NASA research astrophysicists are at Grand Teton National Park this weekend to talk about the space agency’s latest telescope: the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.
The space telescope is scheduled to be launched on Aug. 30 from Kennedy Space Station in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket. Ahead of that event, research astrophysicists are speaking to people at Grand Teton National Park about to give a behind the scenes of the telescope and a look at the mission.
Tonight, James Rhoads will speak at 8 p.m. at the Colter Bay Amphitheater, Saturday, Sangeeta Malhotra will speak at Gros Ventre Campground at 8:30 p.m. and on Sunday, Ami Choi will speak at the Colter Bay Amphitheater at 8 p.m. Guests can look through the park’s telescopes to look at the night sky.
All three days, Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team members will also be at park visitor centers between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to talk with park guests. They’ll be at the Colter Bay Visitor Center Friday and Sunday and at the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center on Saturday.
NASA sends its astrophysicists to night sky events each year. Rhoads says he enjoys speaking with people about space.
“I like talking to people about what I do, what NASA does about space generally. … I’m really looking forward to seeing the night sky through the telescope they have here tonight,” Rhoads said.
Rhoads became interested in astronomy in high school and now lives in Maryland, where he works at the NASA Space Flight Center. He says the sky is often cloudy and there is a lot of light pollution, so the open skies in Grand Teton National Park will be a good opportunity to get a good look at the stars.
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has a primary mission lifetime of five years. In contrast, the Hubble Space Telescope’s initial mission was 15 years when it launched to space in 1990. It’s still there taking pictures 36 years later.
Some of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s goals include studying dark matter, which is matter in space that scientists are unable to observe. It will also study dark energy to figure out why the universe is expanding at a quicker rate. The telescope will also look for exoplanets.
Rhoads hopes the telescope will help NASA learn more about the cosmic dawn.
“Dr. Malhotra and I and a team of about 50 collaborators have a program that we'll use the Roman Space Telescope to look for galaxies from that time,” Rhoads said. “We're actually going to use spectroscopy. You’re going to see a lot of images from the telescope, but it also has the capability to take spectra. And that’s the capability we’re going to be using to look for galaxies in the early time of the universe and understand how they transform the universe around them."
There’s a lot more to the telescope and its mission. To learn more, go to the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope website.