Dominic Benford

Astrophysicist; Program Scientist for @NASARoman; fond of tea, squirrels, and archaeology. Tweets are my own.

[Universe Lost @Universelostcom]

Roman Empire: NASA’s Next-Gen Telescope on Track to Conquer Infrared Sky 🔭🌌

Armed with a field of view 100 times greater than that of the Hubble Space Telescope, the Roman Space Telescope is designed to see more of the universe in a single snapshot than ever before possible.

"Scientists can visually inspect large images, but Roman images aren’t just large, they’re enormous." Dominic Benford, Roman’s program scientist at #NASA Headquarters told https://t.co/qT49TKsP7T.

Full story 👇👇👇
🔗https://t.co/tOfxupticE

@NASA @NASAGoddard @esa @DominicBenford

#RomanTelescope #telescope #space #astronomy #astrophysics #universelost

[Dominic Benford @DominicBenford]

The @NASARoman spacecraft bus is a big deal! Both because it is complete, and because it weighs a little shy of 10,000lbs. And amazingly it can repoint the telescope very quickly to take pictures of the universe much more efficiently than most other missions!

[Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope @NASARoman]

Our tour bus is ready to take this show on the galactic road! 🚌 🪐

Roman's spacecraft bus is complete!

The structure will maneuver Roman to L2, a million miles away, and allow the telescope to complete its tasks.

Learn more: https://t.co/OyGDMclcmz

📸: NASA/Chris Gunn

[Dominic Benford @DominicBenford]

@TerribleMaps How do you do, fellow humans?

[Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope @NASARoman]

We've got our best cosmic detective, Dr. Sangeeta Malhotra, on the case! 🔍✨

As a research astrophysicist, Sangeeta knows that seeing –– or not seeing –– things in space can offer hints to what could be there!
https://t.co/6Xyjnz3252

[Dominic Benford @DominicBenford]

Yes, the @NASARoman camera is revolutionary! I’ll go out on a limb and speculate that it may be the largest infrared camera that will ever be built. Certainly don’t expect it to be surpassed during my career.

[Bill Nelson @SenBillNelson]

It took 1,000 people and a million individual components to build @NASARoman's state-of-the-art near-infrared camera. With it, humanity will reveal billions of cosmic objects across vast stretches of time and space.

We can't wait for the discoveries Roman will find!

[Dominic Benford @DominicBenford]

All good things must come to an end. WISE was a great mission to work on, which I did all the way up to completing its Astrophysics observations. It then went on to spend another decade doing Solar System observations as NEOWISE. As astra, my friend.

[NASA JPL @NASAJPL]

Our asteroid and comet-hunting space telescope, NEOWISE, has ended its mission after exceeding expectations for more than 14 years.

Here's a few things you may not know about it! 🧵

[Chaucer Doth Tweet @LeVostreGC]

"ESTRAGON: I can't go on like this, dude."
"VLADIMIR: That's what you think, dude.”

[Dominic Benford @DominicBenford]

@astrogrant Enjoy the Lambo!

[Dominic Benford @DominicBenford]

@astrogrant [voiceover] Little did he know, the stress was just beginning…

[Dominic Benford @DominicBenford]

@astrogrant Hoping the margaritas aren’t being consumed at that lofty height, but well deserved they certainly are.

[Dominic Benford @DominicBenford]

@astrogrant We do what Congress authorizes and appropriates - the “servant” part of civil servant has meaning.

[Dominic Benford @DominicBenford]

The National Academies wrote that the pursuit of science is inseparable from the people who animate it. Nobody embodies this better than Rebekah, who animates Roman’s objective of definitively measuring the expansion history of the universe.

[Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope @NASARoman]

Her entire life, Rebekah Hounsell, a co-principal investigator for a Roman project infrastructure team, has been captivated by the stars.

Now, she's developing tools to help other astronomers to observe stellar deaths.

https://t.co/GnJQOngV4n

[Dominic Benford @DominicBenford]

@astrogrant This hits a little close to home but we did get some relief on the Hatch Act and social media this cycle!

[Dominic Benford @DominicBenford]

I’ve been going to the @NASARoman science conferences every year, and this time I felt from the attendees a palpable sense of the excitement that this great new observatory will bring — in under three years!

[Caltech IPAC @caltechipac]

A big thanks to everyone who attended the @NASARoman science meeting this week! 👏👏👏

The LOC would appreciate your feedback to help make future events even better. Please take a minute to share your thoughts at the following link:
https://t.co/iluNghUIbc

[Dominic Benford @DominicBenford]

I’m glad that people don’t forget how these amazing machines continue to be amazing for years and decades after they launch.

[President Biden Archived @POTUS46Archive]

Two and a half years ago, a rocket carrying the world’s most powerful deep-space telescope began a journey one million miles into the cosmos.

The Webb Telescope offers us a window into the history of our universe.

Take a look at the latest glimpse from that miraculous window:

[Dominic Benford @DominicBenford]

@toomanyspectra It’s the double cream that sets this apart!

[Dominic Benford @DominicBenford]

Congratulations to @janerrigby (and everyone who contributed/s to the success of JWST) for earning this incredible and appropriate honor!

[The White House 46 Archived @WhiteHouse46]

Michael R. Bloomberg
James E. Clyburn
Elizabeth Dole
Phil Donahue
Medgar Evers
Al Gore
Father Gregory J. Boyle
Clarence B. Jones
John Forbes Kerry
Frank R. Lautenberg
Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky
Opal Lee
Ellen Ochoa
Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi
Jane Rigby
Teresa Romero
Judy Shepard
James Francis Thorpe
Michelle Yeoh

[Dominic Benford @DominicBenford]

@treeboy @NASARoman @NASAWebb Both telescopes orbit around L2 in a huge swooping pattern a little like the edge of a potato chip, with a typical distance of hundreds of thousands of miles.

[Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope @NASARoman]

I think I can, I think I can... we know Roman will! 🚂💨

Getting all 18,000 lbs of the Roman Space Telescope to L2 is no small feat! But 24 thrusters, each about the size of a large egg, will propel the spacecraft a million miles away to the same location as @NASAWebb.

[Dominic Benford @DominicBenford]

Now we have an @NASARoman primer on how to point space telescopes!

[Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope @NASARoman]

🎶 You spin one wheel in, you turn the next wheel out, you pivot another wheel upside down, and you turn Roman all about 🎶

Roman's eight reaction wheels will rotate the spacecraft with great precision to point at specific areas of the sky.

Progress: https://t.co/AvKpl3Fzkt