NASA's Roman Space Telescope captures first light with 300-megapixel camera

In September 2026, humanity extended its gaze a little further into the cosmos as NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope opened its 300-megapixel eye for the first time, capturing starlight from its perch beyond Earth's atmosphere. Named for the astronomer who championed space-based observation, the $4 billion observatory has crossed the threshold from engineering achievement to scientific instrument — proving, in those first clean images, that the long work of preparation was not in vain. What it will reveal about dark energy, distant galaxies, and the architecture of the universe now belon