Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
What's next for NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Telescope now that it has launched? It took off yesterday from Cape Canaveral in Florida on board a Space X Falcon Heavy Rocket, launching roughly 9 months ahead of schedule.
So what will happen now? Well, the Roman telescope is heading to the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 2, about 1 million miles from Earth. Orbiting at this point means that it will have a view of most of the Universe and Earth won’t block much of its view. From there, there will be about 3 months of calibration until the real fun can begin…and if Roman follows anything like the Webb telescope we could end up with some sneak peak images before Christmas!
Roman will be doing many surveys of the sky: think the Hubble Ultra Deep Field but for over 10% of the entire sky scanning our skies for the birth of supermassive black holes, thousands of exoplanets, and mapping dark matter AND dark energy in unmatched detail. Its primary mission is slated to last five years, but if all goes well, its mission could last twice as long. To find out more about why you should get excited about future Roman discoveries, head to my YouTube channel where I have made lots of videos about this very topic!
#RomanSpaceTelescope #NASA #NASARoman #space #astrophysics
Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7 IV
Video edited by Martino Gasparrini: martino.freelance@gmail.com
Video produced by Marina Hui & Dr Becky Smethurst
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📚 My book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, paperback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): lnk.to/DrBecky
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👕 My merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
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🎧 Royal Astronomical Society Podcast that I co-host: podfollow.com/supermassive
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🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
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👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford. I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
drbecky.uk.com
What's next for NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Telescope now that it has launched? It took off yesterday from Cape Canaveral in Florida on board a Space X Falcon Heavy Rocket, launching roughly 9 months ahead of schedule.
So what will happen now? Well, the Roman telescope is heading to the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 2, about 1 million miles from Earth. Orbiting at this point means that it will have a view of most of the Universe and Earth won’t block much of its view. From there, there will be about 3 months of calibration until the real fun can begin…and if Roman follows anything like the Webb telescope we could end up with some sneak peak images before Christmas!
Roman will be doing many surveys of the sky: think the Hubble Ultra Deep Field but for over 10% of the entire sky scanning our skies for the birth of supermassive black holes, thousands of exoplanets, and mapping dark matter AND dark energy in unmatched detail. Its primary mission is slated to last five years, but if all goes well, its mission could last twice as long. To find out more about why you should get excited about future Roman discoveries, head to my YouTube channel where I have made lots of videos about this very topic!
#RomanSpaceTelescope #NASA #NASARoman #space #astrophysics
Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7 IV
Video edited by Martino Gasparrini: martino.freelance@gmail.com
Video produced by Marina Hui & Dr Becky Smethurst
---
📚 My book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, paperback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): lnk.to/DrBecky
---
👕 My merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): dr-becky.teemill.com
---
🎧 Royal Astronomical Society Podcast that I co-host: podfollow.com/supermassive
---
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!
---
👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford. I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
drbecky.uk.com
