Penn State Assistant Professor Charlotte Ward and four graduate students are helping develop the tools scientists need to analyze billions of galaxies and better understand black holes throughout space.

Maddy Reich, Miranda Zak, Pei-Jun Huang, and Kendall Sippy are contributing to the software and the research efforts. Although they are working toward different scientific goals, their projects all contribute to the greater effort of making astronomical datasets useful for scientific discoveries.

Specifically, their software and analysis tools help researchers understand galaxies’ shapes, colors, distances, and physical properties. Their work will help scientists turn the telescope’s massive collection of images into information that could reveal more about how the universe has changed over time.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is designed to observe large areas of the universe in incredible detail. NASA expects the telescope to capture images of more than a billion galaxies, giving astronomers an unprecedented view of galaxy distribution and their surroundings.

By studying these galaxies, scientists hope to learn more about dark matter, dark energy, and the supermassive black holes found at the centers of many galaxies.

Turning Images Into Discoveries

Collecting images from space is only the beginning. Scientists must also find ways to process and analyze the vast amount of information the telescope will produce.

Ward’s team is helping to develop the software that works with observations from the Roman Space Telescope in space and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which will study the universe from the ground. The two projects will work simultaneously to help researchers combine different types of information.

Roman will capture detailed images using infrared light, while the Rubin Observatory will observe the universe in optical wavelengths, which include light visible to the human eye.

When new images become available, researchers can add them to the team’s software pipeline, a system that processes the data in several steps.

“When we receive new images, we add them to our pipeline, and it creates a stronger dataset that we pile up,” Ward told Onward State.

As researchers combine more observations, they can begin to see galaxies in greater detail.

“We start to resolve their shapes, and the more images that we can stack together, the more detail,” Ward said.

The process allows scientists to build a more complete picture of galaxies by combining observations rather than relying on a single image. As the dataset grows, researchers can better understand the whole structure and properties of different galaxies.

Preparing For A Telescope That Will Change How Scientists Study Space

Roman’s large field of view is one feature that sets the telescope apart from previous missions.

While the Hubble Space Telescope has provided detailed views of the universe, Roman is designed to view much larger areas throughout space. Its field of view will be roughly 100 times larger than Hubble’s, allowing it to observe and study much more data on galaxies in a shorter time.

Ward said she is particularly excited about the possibility of discovering unusual astronomical events, including wandering black holes and other transient objects that change over time.

Scientists will need to stay open to findings that don’t fit their current understanding of the universe.

“Very aware we need to keep an eye out for everything, not just for the things we know,” Ward said.

An unexpected change in a black hole’s behavior or the discovery of an unfamiliar object could lead researchers toward new questions and potentially transform how they understand the universe.

NASA’s Mission To Penn State Students

For Ward, the project is about more than developing software. It gives graduate students an opportunity to contribute to a major scientific effort while gaining experience with advanced technology and research.

The students are working with data from multiple observations and learning techniques that could shape how astronomers study galaxies in the future. Their involvement also helps give them the opportunity to pursue research questions of their own as new observations and data become available.

Ward hopes the experience teaches students what researchers can accomplish when they work together toward a shared goal. She also wants students to feel confident pursuing discoveries themselves rather than simply following established research.

“Learn how to develop approaches, analyze data, and make their own discoveries,” Ward said.

As Roman begins collecting data, researchers across the scientific community will have opportunities to study its observations. Ward sees that accessibility as an extremely important part of the mission, giving students and scientists the chance to investigate the data that interests them.

Ward said a major discovery would demonstrate the value of the years of work that researchers have invested in planning and developing the telescope.

“I think for me it would really show that the efforts of all the teams who have spent decades planning and building this telescope,” Ward said.

The mission represents decades of effort from teams working to build an instrument capable of answering some of astronomy’s biggest questions. With Penn State students helping develop the tools to analyze these observations, the university will be part of the broader scientific effort to understand what those images reveal.

Ward said her hope for the students extends beyond the discoveries they may make.

“My hope for them is that they really learn how much scientists can achieve when people work in teams for science discovery that is for the broader community,” Ward said.

As Roman prepares to explore the universe, Ward and her students are working to ensure scientists make the most of what they find. Their contributions will help researchers turn billions of images into a stronger understanding of the universe and the discoveries that are still waiting to be made.

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