Roman Telescope

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will conduct a Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey to study the center of the Milky Way galaxy. The survey will observe six patches of the galactic bulge, one pinpointing the center and five nearby, every 12 minutes during 438 days of total observing time.

The survey will use a method called microlensing to search for exoplanets, a technique that has so far identified just over 200 exoplanets. With this survey, scientists expect to see over 1,000 new planets orbiting other stars just using microlensing alone.

The Roman Space Telescope will provide the deepest-ever view of the galactic bulge, revealing stars, planets, and unique objects that resist definition. The survey will advance not only the field of exoplanet microlensing but also other areas of astronomy, including the study of dark matter, dark energy, and the formation history of the Milky Way galaxy.