NASA’s SPHEREx Observatory has mapped the entire sky in 102 infrared colors, as seen here in this image released on Dec. 18, 2025. This image features a selection of colors emitted primarily by stars (blue, green, and white), hot hydrogen gas (blue), and cosmic dust (red).
NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s SPHEREx Observatory has mapped the entire sky in 102 infrared colors, as seen here in this image released on Dec. 18, 2025. This image features a selection of colors emitted primarily by stars (blue, green, and white), hot hydrogen gas (blue), and cosmic dust (red).
While not visible to the human eye, these 102 infrared wavelengths of light are prevalent in the cosmos, and observing the entire sky this way enables scientists to answer big questions, including how a dramatic event that occurred in the first billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second after the big bang influenced the 3D distribution of hundreds of millions of galaxies in our universe. In addition, scientists will use the data to study how galaxies have changed over the universe’s nearly 14-billion-year history and learn about the distribution of key ingredients for life in our own galaxy.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA的SPHEREx天文台在2025年12月18日发布的这张图像中，以102种红外颜色绘制了整个天空。这幅图像展示了主要来自恒星的辐射颜色（蓝色、绿色和白色）、炽热的氢气（蓝色）以及宇宙尘埃（红色）。
NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA的SPHEREx天文台在2025年12月18日发布的这张图像中，以102种红外颜色绘制了整个天空。这幅图像展示了主要来自恒星的辐射颜色（蓝色、绿色和白色）、炽热的氢气（蓝色）以及宇宙尘埃（红色）。
尽管人眼无法看到，这102个红外波段在宇宙中广泛存在。以这种方式观测整个天空，使科学家能够回答一系列重大问题，例如：在大爆炸后极其短暂的时间尺度内发生的一次剧烈事件，如何影响了当今宇宙中数亿个星系的三维分布。此外，科学家还将利用这些数据研究星系在近140亿年宇宙历史中的演化过程，并探索我们银河系中与生命相关关键成分的分布情况。
影像来源: : NASA/JPL-Caltech
