NASA's SPHEREx space telescope, launched in March, has begun publicly releasing data from its infrared sky survey, offering scientists worldwide weekly access to its extensive cosmic observations. The mission is designed to map the entire sky twice a year over a two-year period, capturing images in 102 infrared wavelengths to support investigations ranging from the origins of the universe to the by Lauren Leese for JPL News
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 07, 2025
NASA's SPHEREx space telescope, launched in March, has begun publicly releasing data from its infrared sky survey, offering scientists worldwide weekly access to its extensive cosmic observations. The mission is designed to map the entire sky twice a year over a two-year period, capturing images in 102 infrared wavelengths to support investigations ranging from the origins of the universe to the precursors of life.
Settled in low-Earth orbit, SPHEREx - short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer - enables researchers to detect the signatures of water and organic molecules within the Milky Way using spectroscopy. The same data also supports studies into the universe's expansion after the big bang and quantifies the accumulated light from galaxies across time.
"Because we're looking at everything in the whole sky, almost every area of astronomy can be addressed by SPHEREx data," said Rachel Akeson, who leads the mission's Science Data Center at Caltech's IPAC.
SPHEREx builds on the legacy of NASA's WISE mission but surpasses it with vastly greater spectral resolution. WISE mapped the sky in four bands, whereas SPHEREx collects data across 102 bands, significantly enhancing researchers' ability to detect specific molecules and cosmic phenomena.
In alignment with NASA's commitment to open science, all SPHEREx data is made public through the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive (IRSA) within 60 days of collection. This delay allows the mission team to calibrate the data, remove instrumental artifacts, and align images precisely. Each release includes full documentation of the data processing methods.
"We want enough information in those files that people can do their own research," Akeson noted.
After its first year, the mission will release a full-sky map at all observed wavelengths. Throughout its mission, SPHEREx data will complement other observatories, including the James Webb Space Telescope, TESS, ESA's Euclid mission, and NASA's future Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.
"SPHEREx is part of the entire legacy of NASA space surveys," said Vandana Desai, IRSA Science Lead. "People are going to use the data in all kinds of ways that we can't imagine."
SPHEREx's integration with IRSA ensures that users can cross-reference its data with archives from earlier missions, supporting a broad range of astronomical studies.
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