An observation made by\u00a0NASA\u2019s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) shows the chemical signatures of water ice (shown in bright blue) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (orange) in Cygnus X, one of the most active and turbulent regions of star birth in our Milky Way galaxy.<\/p>\n
One of several maps of molecular clouds made by SPHEREx, this observation is detailed in a study\u00a0published<\/a>\u00a0April 15, 2026, in The Astrophysical Journal. The study supports the hypothesis that interstellar ice forms on the surface of tiny dust particles no larger than particles found in the smoke from a candle. The findings show the densest regions of ice coincide with the densest regions of dust, and the dust shields the ice from the intense ultraviolet radiation emitted by newborn stars.<\/p>\n Figure A shows the same region, but in three different wavelengths assigned the colors green, blue, and red. This SPHEREx observation highlights the dark, dusty lanes that protect the water molecules from the intense radiation generated by newborn stars.<\/p>\n Although space telescopes such as NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope and the agency\u2019s retired Spitzer have\u00a0detected water<\/a>, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and other icy molecules throughout our galaxy, the SPHEREx observatory is the first infrared mission specifically designed to find such molecules over the entire sky, via the mission\u2019s large-scale spectral survey.<\/p>\n Managed by NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the SPHEREx observatory\u00a0launched<\/a>March 11, 2025, and has the unique ability to see the sky in 102 colors, each representing a different wavelength of infrared light that offers distinctive information about galaxies, stars, planet-forming regions, and other cosmic features. By late 2025, SPHEREx had\u00a0completed<\/a>\u00a0the\u00a0first of four all-sky infrared maps\u00a0of the universe, charting the positions of hundreds of millions of galaxies in 3D to help answer major questions about the cosmos, including those about the origins of water and life.\u00a0<\/p>\n The mission is managed by JPL for the agency\u2019s Astrophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The telescope and the spacecraft bus were built by BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado. The science analysis of the SPHEREx data is being conducted by a team of scientists at 13 institutions across the U.S. and in South Korea and Taiwan, led by Principal Investigator Jamie Bock, who is based at Caltech with a joint JPL appointment, and by JPL Project Scientist Olivier Dor\u00e9. Data is processed and archived at IPAC at Caltech in Pasadena, which manages JPL for NASA. The SPHEREx\u00a0dataset is\u00a0freely available to scientists\u00a0and the public.<\/p>\n