{"id":320269,"date":"2025-11-21T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?p=927315"},"modified":"2025-11-21T01:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T15:00:00","slug":"nasas-roman-could-bring-new-waves-of-information-on-galaxys-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=320269","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s Roman Could Bring New Waves of Information on Galaxy\u2019s Stars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lee esta nota de prensa en espa\u00f1ol aqui<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

A team of researchers has confirmed stars ring loud and clear in a \u201ckey\u201d that will harmonize well with the science goals and capabilities of NASA\u2019s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.<\/p>\n

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This artist\u2019s concept visualizes the Sun and several red giant stars of varying radii. NASA\u2019s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will be well suited for studying red giant stars with a method known as asteroseismology. This approach entails studying the changes in stars\u2019 overall brightness, which is caused by their turbulent interiors creating waves and oscillations. With asteroseismic detections, astronomers can learn about stars\u2019 ages, masses, and sizes. Scientists estimate Roman will be able to detect a total of 300,000 red giant stars with this method. This would be the largest sample of its kind ever collected.<\/div>\n
Credit: NASA, STScI, Ralf Crawford (STScI)<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Stars\u2019 turbulent natures produce waves that cause fluctuations in their overall brightness. By studying these changes \u2014 a method called asteroseismology \u2014 scientists can glean information about stars\u2019 ages, masses, and sizes. These shifts in brightness were perceptible to NASA\u2019s Kepler space telescope<\/a>, which provided asteroseismic data on approximately 16,000 stars before its retirement in 2018.<\/p>\n

Using Kepler data as a starting point and adapting the dataset to match the expected quality from Roman, astronomers have recently proven the feasibility of asteroseismology with the soon-to-launch telescope and provided an estimated range of detectable stars. It\u2019s an added bonus to Roman\u2019s main science goals: As the telescope conducts observations for its Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey<\/a> \u2014 a core community survey that will gather data on hundreds of millions of stars in the bulge of our Milky Way galaxy \u2014 it will also provide enough information for astronomers to determine stellar measurements via asteroseismology.<\/p>\n

\u201cAsteroseismology with Roman is possible because we don\u2019t need to ask the telescope to do anything it wasn\u2019t already planning to do,\u201d said Marc Pinsonneault of The Ohio State University in Columbus, a co-author of a paper detailing the research. \u201cThe strength of the Roman mission is remarkable: It\u2019s designed in part to advance exoplanet science, but we\u2019ll also get really rich data for other scientific areas that extend beyond its main focus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Exploring what\u2019s possible<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The galactic bulge is densely populated with red giant branch<\/a> and red clump stars, which are more evolved and puffier than main sequence stars<\/a>. (Main sequence stars are in a similar life stage as our Sun.) Their high luminosity and oscillating frequency, ranging from hours to days, work in Roman\u2019s favor. As part of its Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey, the telescope will observe the Milky Way\u2019s galactic bulge every 12 minutes over six 70.5-day stretches, a cadence that makes it particularly well suited for red giant asteroseismology.<\/p>\n

While previous research has explored the potential of asteroseismology with Roman, the team took a more detailed look by considering Roman\u2019s capabilities and mission design. Their investigation consisted of two large efforts:<\/p>\n

First, the team members looked at Kepler\u2019s asteroseismic data and applied parameters so the dataset matched the expected quality of Roman data. This included increasing the observation frequency and adjusting the wavelength range of light. The team calculated detection probabilities, which confirmed with a resounding yes that Roman will be able to detect the oscillations of red giants.<\/p>\n

The team then applied their detection probabilities to a model of the Milky Way galaxy and considered the suggested fields of view for the galactic bulge survey to get a sense of how many red giants and red clump stars could be investigated with asteroseismology.<\/p>\n

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This sonification is based on a simulation of data that NASA\u2019s Roman Space Telescope will collect after its launch as soon as fall 2026. The sonification converts the waves moving inside red giant stars into sound. These pressure waves cause tiny changes in brightness that Roman can measure. Bigger stars take longer for the waves to bounce around, which means brightness changes have lower frequencies. Here, those frequencies are turned into sound and sped up so we can hear them. The first sound in the sonification comes from the Sun to give a sense of scale (even though Roman won\u2019t look at the Sun). It then moves on to bigger and bigger red giants, with the pitch changing for each one. Astronomers can calculate a star\u2019s size and other properties by measuring these frequencies. An audio-described version is available for download at the bottom of the page.\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Credit: Video: NASA, STScI; Sonification: Christopher Britt (STScI), Martha Irene Saladino (STScI); Designer: Ralf Crawford (STScI); Science: Noah Downing (OSU), Trevor Weiss (CSU)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cAt the time of our study, the core community survey was not fully defined, so we explored a few different models and simulations. Our lower limit estimation was 290,000 objects in total, with 185,000 stars in the bulge,\u201d said Trevor Weiss of California State University, Long Beach, co-first author of the paper. \u201cNow that we know the survey will entail a 12-minute cadence, we find it strengthens our numbers to over 300,000 asteroseismic detections in total. It would be the largest asteroseismic sample ever collected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bolstering science for all<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The benefits of asteroseismology with Roman are numerous, including tying into exoplanet science, a major focus for the mission and the galactic bulge survey. Roman will detect exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system, through a method called microlensing<\/a>, in which the gravity of a foreground star magnifies the light from a background star. The presence of an exoplanet can cause a noticeable \u201cblip\u201d in the resulting brightness change.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith asteroseismic data, we\u2019ll be able to get a lot of information about exoplanets\u2019 host stars, and that will give us a lot of insight on exoplanets themselves,\u201d Weiss said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be difficult to directly infer ages and the abundances of heavy elements like iron for the host stars of exoplanets Roman detects,\u201d Pinsonneault said. \u201cKnowing these things \u2014 age and composition \u2014 can be important for understanding the exoplanets. Our work will lay out the statistical properties of the whole population \u2014 what the typical abundances and ages are \u2014 so that the exoplanet scientists can put the Roman measurements in context.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, for astronomers who seek to understand the history of the Milky Way galaxy, asteroseismology could reveal information about its formation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually don\u2019t know a lot about our galaxy\u2019s bulge since you can only see it in infrared light<\/a> due to all the intervening dust,\u201d Pinsonneault said. \u201cThere could be surprising populations or chemical patterns there. What if there are young stars buried there? Roman will open a completely different window into the stellar populations in the Milky Way\u2019s center. I\u2019m prepared to be surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since Roman is set to observe the galactic bulge soon after launch, the team is working to build a catalog in advance and provide a target list of observable stars that could help with efforts in validating the telescope\u2019s early performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cOutside of all the science, it\u2019s important to remember the amount of people it takes to get these things up and running, and the amount of different people working on Roman,\u201d said co-first author Noah Downing of The Ohio State University. \u201cIt\u2019s really exciting to see all of the opportunities Roman is opening up for people before it even launches and then think about how many more opportunities will exist once it\u2019s in space and taking data, which is not very far away.\u201d Roman is slated to launch no later than May 2027, with the team working toward a potential early launch as soon as fall 2026.<\/p>\n

The paper was published in The Astrophysical Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with participation by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California; Caltech\/IPAC in Pasadena, California; the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore; and a science team comprising scientists from various research institutions. The primary industrial partners are BAE Systems, Inc. in Boulder, Colorado; L3Harris Technologies in Melbourne, Florida; and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging in Thousand Oaks, California.<\/p>\n

To learn more about Roman, visit: https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/roman<\/a><\/p>\n

By Abigail Major<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.<\/strong><\/p>\n