Mount Wilson Observatory Talks & Telescopes: Dr. Phil Korngut - The Saga of SPHEREx

The Saga of SPHEREx: NASA’s all-sky spectroscopic mapping machine
Dr. Phil Korngut, Caltech, SPHEREx Instrument Scientist

Come enjoy an inspiring night on the mountain! The evening begins with the talk at 5:30 in our Auditorium, followed by observing through both the 60- and 100-inch telescopes from dusk to 11:30PM — the two largest telescopes in the world available for public use. Food will be available for purchase from a food truck, or bring your own picnic!

SPHEREx is NASA’s newest space telescope, launched on March 11th, 2025. Having just completed its commissioning phase, the observatory is now fully operational and surveying the sky from low Earth orbit. Over the course of its two-year baseline mission, it will deliver a first-of-its-kind dataset, containing not only imaging towards every position on the night sky, but information-rich spectroscopy in the infrared. This lecture, given from the perspective of the mission’s instrument scientist, will tell the life story of SPHEREx.