APOD: 2026 August 31 – Launch of the Roman Space Telescope

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. As NASA Science tells it, the new telescope features a main mirror the same size as Hubble's, but it can capture one hundred times more of the sky in a single snapshot. This increased field of view is expected to help astronomers discover more supernovas and planets orbiting distant stars. Like the James Webb Space Telescope, the Roman telescope will orbit the Sun rather than the Earth.

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