NASA SPHEREx space telescope has captured its 1st images of cosmos: See stunning photos

Updated May 6, 2025, 8:04 a.m. PT

Scientists hope SPHEREx will provide data lending new insights into the origins of the universe and whether the ingredients for life exist anywhere else in our Milky Way galaxy.
The telescope launched in March 2025 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
NASA believes SPHEREx could complement the famous Hubble and James Webb space telescopes.

NASA's newest space telescope has officially begun snapping some incredible images of the cosmos about two months after it got off the ground.

SPHEREx, which the U.S. space agency sent on a mission to unravel some of the universe's biggest mysteries, first released a debut batch of uncalibrated images in April unsuited for scientific study.

What followed was about six weeks of procedures to make sure the advanced instrument is working as it should.

Now, the telescope has commenced mapping not just a section of the sky, but all of it as part of NASA's goal of charting the positions of hundreds of millions of galaxies in three-dimension. As of May, that includes taking some 3,600 images per day.

NASA released a sampling of those images May 1, which the space agency hopes are just the tip of the iceberg. Ultimately, scientists hope SPHEREx will provide data lending new insights into the origins of the universe and whether the ingredients for life exist anywhere else in our Milky Way galaxy.

Here's a look at some of SPHEREx's first images, as well as what to know about the observatory's two-year mission.

See 1st photos from SPHEREx space telescope

Throughout the next 25 months, the SPHEREx observatory will orbit Earth more than 11,000 times while surveying and imaging the surrounding sky.

When SPHEREx takes pictures of the sky, the light is sent to six detectors that can capture different wavelengths of light, or exposures.

By the mission's end, NASA will weave hundreds of thousands of SPHEREx’s images into digital sky maps.

Here's a look at two of the newest photos:

NASA’s SPHEREx mission is observing the entire sky in 102 infrared colors, or wavelengths of light not visible to the human eye. This image shows a section of sky in one wavelength, revealing a cloud of dust made of a molecule similar to soot or smoke.

This image from NASA’s SPHEREx shows the same region of space in a different infrared wavelength, but the dust cloud is no longer visible. The molecules that compose the dust do not radiate light in this color.

What is the SPHEREx mission? Telescope to study origins of universe

SPHEREx, short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, was developed by NASA for a mission to uncover some of the universe's greatest mysteries.

NASA’s SPHEREx space observatory was photographed at BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado, in November 2024 after completing environmental testing. The spacecraft’s three concentric cones help direct heat and light away from the telescope and other components, keeping them cool.

The advanced observatory, an 8½ foot-tall cone-shaped telescope with infrared capabilities, will create a 3D map of the entire celestial sky every six months.

SPHEREx will also use a technique called spectroscopy to measure the distance to 450 million galaxies in the nearby universe. Astronomers theorize that the distribution of the galaxies was influenced by a universe-expanding event that took place almost 14 billion years ago after the big bang.

During its mission, the telescope will also measure the glow of all the galaxies in the universe, which should provide new insights into how galaxies formed and evolved over cosmic time.

But the mission isn't only studying faraway galaxies. SPHEREx will also turn its attention to our Milky Way to search for hidden reservoirs of frozen water ice and other molecules, like carbon dioxide, that are essential to life as we know it.

When and where did the SPHEREx telescope launch?

NASA’s SPHEREx observatory separates from a SpaceX Falcon 9 second stage after launching from Space Launch Complex 4 East from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Tuesday, March 11.

The telescope got off the ground March 12 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Vandenberg, California.

The space observatory shared a ride with the four small satellites that make up NASA’s PUNCH mission, which will study how the sun's outer atmosphere becomes solar wind.

The two missions are designed to operate in low-Earth orbit in such a way that the sun always remains in the same position relative to each spacecraft. This is essential for SPHEREx to keep its telescope shielded from the sun’s light and heat, which would inhibit its observations, and for PUNCH to have a clear view in all directions around the sun, according to NASA.

How is SPHEREx different from James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope?

NASA believes SPHEREx could complement the famous Hubble and James Webb space telescopes, which have for years already been studying the far corners of the known universe.

Hubble and Webb specialize in zooming in on small areas in great detail, unveiling planets, stars and galaxies in high resolution. But some questions "can be answered only by looking at the big picture," according to NASA.

That's where SPHEREx comes in.

The new telescope could help fill in the gap by getting a wider view of the galaxy – identifying objects of scientific interest that telescopes like Hubble and Webb can then go study up close. The result would provide scientists with a more complete perspective of the universe, according to NASA.

Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com