Launch of the Roman Space Telescope
Image unavailable
August 31, 2026
On this day, the universe repeated one of its rarest tricks: it arranged dust, light, memory, and possibility into a person no equation...
Launch of the Roman Space Telescope
Birthday · August 31, 2026
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
Free PNG · 1080 × 1350 · No account needed
Image rights and credit requirements apply when sharing or reusing imagery.
This archive entry has no still image to save. You can open its original APOD below.
Date & occasion only
Change the year
APOD published August 31, 2026 · Video still. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
A new telescope has been launched into space to study the universe. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (RST) has the same size main mirror as the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) but sees 100 times more sky during each snapshot. This is possible because when compared to HST, RST's main mirror is more curved, its secondary mirror is closer, and its main camera is larger. The result is that RST can inspect more of the sky more quickly, likely allowing, among other capabilities, the discovery of many more supernovas which tell us more about the expansion rate and composition of our universe, and many more planets orbiting other stars that tell us more about the possibilities for life elsewhere in the universe. RST will orbit the Sun, not the Earth, like the James Webb Space Telescope. The featured video shows Roman being launched yesterday from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. APOD's main NASA site is moving: From apod.nasa.gov to science.nasa.gov/apod