NASA's Roman Space Telescope to Explore Dark Matter in Andromeda Galaxy

The upcoming telescope, set to launch by May 2027, will examine gaps in streams of stars, potentially revealing properties of elusive dark matter.

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, set to launch by May 2027, will be used to explore gaps in streams of stars in the Andromeda galaxy, potentially leading to more information about the concrete properties of dark matter.
The Roman Space Telescope's Wide Field Instrument will produce images 200 times the size of those produced by the Hubble Space Telescope's near-infrared camera, at a slightly greater resolution.
Researchers will examine the halo of dark matter surrounding Andromeda, potentially finding evidence of smaller sub-halos, which current models predict.
Researchers simulated streams of stars interacting with dark matter clumps to create gaps, and concluded that these gaps should be detectable in the Roman Space Telescope's forthcoming images.
The researchers estimate that the new telescope will efficiently deliver this data within as little as one hour of observing time.