NASA has powered up the 300-megapixel camera aboard its Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, according to ScienceDaily. The milestone comes as the mission also reports its first look at cosmic light.
Multiple outlets covered the telescope's debut image. Scientific American reported that Roman glimpsed its first cosmic light, while Live Science described stars appearing neon-green in that first test image. Gizmodo reported that the roughly $4 billion telescope saw starlight for the first time, quoting a researcher saying, "We are on our way to groundbreaking science."
The camera's activation and the first-light image are separate but related steps in preparing the observatory for science. NASA Science also reported that fuel savings have doubled the mission's potential lifetime.
The Roman telescope is designed to survey wide areas of the sky, and its large camera is central to that work. The first test image offers an early sign that the instrument is functioning, though the neon-green appearance of stars in the image reflects how the test data was processed rather than the actual color of those stars.
What to watch next is how NASA proceeds with commissioning the camera and the rest of the observatory, and when the mission moves from testing toward its planned science surveys.