Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope: Exploring The Milky Way's Dynamic Heart
The heart of our Milky Way galaxy is a densely packed region full of wonders waiting to be discovered. NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will provide one of the deepest views ever into this complex region, making repeated observations that will reveal subtle changes.
Roman’s tracking of hundreds of millions of stars’ changes in brightness over time will reveal hundreds of thousands of distant worlds, including free-floating planets that do not orbit a star, as well as isolated black holes and brown dwarfs—intriguing, elusive celestial bodies that are more massive than a planet, but less bright and massive than a star.
Of course, a survey of the galactic center will also yield a wealth of information about stars themselves. Even after thousands of years of stargazing, astronomers still have many questions about how stars grow and change. The detailed information that Roman will gather about this crowded region will go a long way to understanding the variety and development of stars, including temporary, darkened “star spots” and stellar quakes.
Scientists will be able to determine the sizes and masses of thousands of distant exoplanets with the techniques known as microlensing and transit. With such a vast increase in the number of known exoplanets—planets outside our solar system—scientists will have new insight into how common different types of planets are, including the types found in our own solar system, and how their stars and environments influence them.
Astronomers expect Roman will greatly increase the number of exoplanets found via the transit method, when a planet passes in front of (“transits”) its star and briefly dims the star’s light. To date about 4,400 exoplanets have been found this way, and Roman is expected to bring the number as high as 200,000!
About an additional 1,000 planets are expected to be discovered with gravitational microlensing, when a planet’s gravitational field will temporarily visually increase the brightness of a background star. This will include planets that orbit their stars at a distance farther than Earth, a region where planets have been difficult to detect.
One of the best things about Roman’s surveys is that it will provide a big picture but also amazing detail. Roman combines a resolution equivalent to the Hubble Space Telescope’s infrared camera with a field of view 200 times larger, allowing it to capture huge amounts of high-quality data quickly. Scientists will identify hundreds of thousands of new planets and discover the characteristics of millions of individual stars. The data will be immediately available to astronomers to use for research, with the potential to fuel discoveries for many years to come.
Learn more about Roman and the discoveries it will enable: https://www.stsci.edu/roman
Microlensing: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/microlensing/
https://www.stsci.edu/roman
Duration: 2 minutes
Release Date: April 29, 2025
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