SPHEREx Maps Vast Interstellar Ice Clouds Across the Milky Way
NASA’s SPHEREx infrared survey has mapped extensive interstellar ices—water, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide—on dust grains across giant molecular clouds, including Cygnus X and the North American Nebula, revealing how ice formation depends on environment and suggesting these ice reservoirs could deliver water to forming planets; the mission’s all-sky 102-color survey enables a big-picture view unavailable to ground-based telescopes.
