NASA's Newest Space Telescope Is Ready to Begin Investigating Dark Energy

No, not that Nancy Grace. NASA's newest space telescope, named after the agency's first Chief of Astronomy, is physically complete and ready to begin ramping up to launch. It's slated to enter orbit no later than May 2027, carrying with it several high-precision devices and a mission to investigate the fundamental physics of the universe.

Infrared astronomy mainly involves looking at the coldest, most distant, or hidden parts of the universe, obscured by storms of confounding information. The new Roman telescope, as it's also known, is equipped with two main instruments: the Wide Field Instrument and the Coronagraph Instrument.

The Wide Field Instrument is a 300-megapixel infrared camera that delivers roughly 10 times the raw resolution of an 8K image. Its images should be able to discern details to the very edge of the observable universe.

A coronagraph is an instrument that helps remove light noise ...