{"id":235316,"date":"2026-04-16T02:27:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T07:27:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/interstellar-glaciers-nasas-spherex-maps-vast-galactic-ice-regions"},"modified":"2026-04-16T02:27:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T07:27:19","slug":"interstellar-glaciers-nasas-spherex-maps-vast-galactic-ice-regions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/interstellar-glaciers-nasas-spherex-maps-vast-galactic-ice-regions","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Interstellar glaciers\u2019: NASA\u2019s SPHEREx maps vast galactic ice regions"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) mission has mapped interstellar ice at an unprecedented scale. Covering regions in our Milky Way galaxy more than 600 light-years across, the ice was found inside giant molecular clouds\u2014vast regions of gas and dust where dense clumps of matter collapse under gravity, giving birth to stars. A study describing these findings was published<\/a> Wednesday in The Astrophysical Journal.<\/p>\n

One of SPHEREx\u2019s main goals is to map the chemical signatures of various types of interstellar ice. This ice includes molecules like water, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide, which are vital to the chemistry that allows life to develop. Researchers believe these ice reservoirs, attached to the surfaces of tiny dust grains, are where most of the universe\u2019s water is formed and stored. The water in Earth\u2019s oceans <\/a>\u2014and the ices in comets and on other planets and moons in our galaxy\u2014originates from these regions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese vast frozen complexes are like \u2018interstellar glaciers\u2019 that could deliver a massive water supply to new solar systems that will be born in the region,\u201d said study co-author Phil Korngut, the instrument scientist for SPHEREx at Caltech in Pasadena, California. \u201cIt\u2019s a profound idea that we are looking at a map of material that could rain on nascent planets and potentially support future life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NASA\u2019s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) mission has mapped interstellar ice at an unprecedented scale. Covering regions in our Milky Way galaxy more than 600 light-years across, the ice was found inside giant molecular clouds\u2014vast regions of gas and dust where dense clumps of matter collapse [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1527,19,1965],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-235316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alien-life","category-chemistry","category-mapping"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235316\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}