The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) is a proposed infrared

Infrared

Infrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...

 space observatory

Space observatory

A space observatory is any instrument in outer space which is used for observation of distant planets, galaxies, and other outer space objects...

 which was selected by National Research Council

United States National Research Council

The National Research Council of the USA is the working arm of the United States National Academies, carrying out most of the studies done in their names.The National Academies include:* National Academy of Sciences...

 committee

Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey

The Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey is a review of astronomy and astrophysics literature produced approximately every ten years by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States. The report surveys the current state of the field, identifies research...

 as the top priority for the next decade of astronomy.

The design of WFIRST is based on one of the proposed designs for the Joint Dark Energy Mission

Joint Dark Energy Mission

The Joint Dark Energy Mission was a Einstein probe that planned to focus on investigating dark energy. JDEM is a partnership between NASA and the U.S...

 between NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

 and DOE

United States Department of Energy

The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...

. WFIRST adds some extra capabilities to the original JDEM proposal, including a search for extra-solar planets using gravitational microlensing

Gravitational microlensing

Gravitational microlensing is an astronomical phenomenon due to the gravitational lens effect. It can be used to detect objects ranging from the mass of a planet to the mass of a star, regardless of the light they emit. Typically, astronomers can only detect bright objects that emit lots of light ...

.

Science objectives

• Search for dark energy
  Dark energy
  In physical cosmology, astronomy and celestial mechanics, dark energy is a hypothetical form of energy that permeates all of space and tends to accelerate the expansion of the universe. Dark energy is the most accepted theory to explain recent observations that the universe appears to be expanding...
  
  
  • Baryon acoustic oscillations
    Baryon acoustic oscillations
    In cosmology, baryon acoustic oscillations refers to an overdensity or clustering of baryonic matter at certain length scales due to acoustic waves which propagated in the early universe. In the same way that supernova experiments provide a "standard candle" for astronomical observations, BAO...
    
    
  • Observing distant supernovae
  • Weak gravitational lensing
    Weak gravitational lensing
    While the presence of any mass bends the path of light passing near it, this effect rarely produces the giant arcs and multiple images associated with strong gravitational lensing. Most lines of sight in the universe are thoroughly in the weak lensing regime, in which the deflection is impossible...
    
    
• Exoplanet statistics
  • Gravitational microlensing
    Gravitational microlensing
    Gravitational microlensing is an astronomical phenomenon due to the gravitational lens effect. It can be used to detect objects ranging from the mass of a planet to the mass of a star, regardless of the light they emit. Typically, astronomers can only detect bright objects that emit lots of light ...
    
    
• Guest investigator mode enabling survey investigations of nearby galaxies to answer key questions about their formation and structure.

WFIRST will have a single instrument, being a 144-megapixel HgCdTe focal-plane array with a pixel size of 200 milliarcseconds.

External links

• WFIRST page at Goddard Space Flight Center site
• $1.6 Billion Telescope Would Search Alien Planets and Probe Dark Energy — Space.com
  Space.com
  Space.com is a space and astronomy news website. Its stories are often syndicated to other media outlets, including CNN, MSNBC, Yahoo!, and USA Today.Space.com was founded by former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs and Rich Zahradnik, in July 1999...