Observatory Overview
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will have sensitivity and resolution comparable to the Hubble Space Telescope, but with a field of view 200 times greater than Hubble's infrared view, combining excellent image quality with survey power. The Roman Space Telescope observatory will utilize an existing 2.4-meter AFTA (Astrophysics-Focused Telescope Assets) telescope, donated to NASA by another agency, and will be located at the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point (L2).
The prime mission is five years with a goal of ten years. Read more about the key mission characteristics.
Instruments
Roman has two instruments to execute the mission science program:
Wide Field Instrument (WFI)
The Wide Field Instrument (WFI) will operate in the 0.5–2.3 micron range. The WFI will have eight imaging filters, a grism, covering the wavelength range between 1.00 and 1.93 micron at a resolution of R=460, and a prism, covering the 0.75-1.80 micron range at a resolution R=80-180.
Coronagraph Instrument
The Coronagraph Instrument will operate in the 0.4–1.0 micron range. This Technology Demonstration instrument will offer an imaging mode, a single slit spectroscopic mode with a prism, and polarimetric capabilities. The Coronagraph Instrument was added to the mission as a “New Worlds Technology Development Program,” which was the top medium-scale priority in space described in the NWNH Decadal Survey Report.
Roman Capabilities
The tables below detail the imaging, spectroscopic, and corographic capabilities of Roman. Additional information can be found on the GSFC website.
| Telescope Aperture | Field of View | Pixel Scale | Wavelength Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.4 meter | 45'x23'; 0.28 sq deg | 0.11 arcsec | 0.5-2.3 µm |
| Filters | F062 (R) | F087 (Z) | F106 (Y) | F129 (J) | F146 (I/H) | F158 (H) | F184 (H/K) | F213 (Ks) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wavelength (µm) | 0.48-0.76 | 0.76-0.98 | 0.93-1.19 | 1.13-1.45 | 0.93-2.00 | 1.38-1.77 | 1.68-2.00 |
1.95-2.30 |
| Sensitivity (5σ AB mag in 1 hr) |
27.9 | 27.6 | 27.5 | 27.5 | 27.9 | 27.4 | 26.7 |
25.4 |
| Wavelength (µm) |
Continuum Sensitivity (AB mag) (5σ per pixel in 1hr) |
Resolution | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grism | 1.00-1.93 | 21.4 at 1.5 µm | 461 |
| Prism | 0.75-1.80 | 23.5 at 1.5 µm | 80-180 |
| Wavelength (µm) |
Estimated Detection Limit | Spectral Resolution | Inner Working Angle (arcsec) |
Outer Working Angle (arcsec) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Imaging | 0.5-0.8 | 10-9 contrast (after post processing) |
exoplanets: 0.15 disks: 0.48 |
exoplanets: 0.66 disks: 1.46 |
|
| Spectroscopy | 0.675-0.785 | 47-75 |
Citation: Roman Reference Information (Phase C payload design)
Additional Resources
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The NASA Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed by NASA/GSFC with participation of STScI, Caltech/IPAC, and NASA/JPL.
Contact the Roman Team