University of Pennsylvania Astrophysics Seminar

The SPHEREx near-infrared space telescope is an all-sky spectroscopic survey mission launched on March 12th, 2025. In addition to providing the community with a spectral database applicable to a wide range of investigations, it is optimized to address three core science goals: to survey the large scale structure of the Universe for signatures of non-Gaussianity during inflation; to conduct intensity mapping studies of the extragalactic background light for probing the history of galaxy evolution; and to survey the plane of the Milky Way for the prevalence and distribution of water and other biogenic ices. In this seminar, I’ll provide an overview of the mission with a focus on the instrument’s design and implementation, including the laboratory testing campaign and in-flight performance quantification. We’ll also look at the exciting early results emerging from the first complete all-sky survey data.