NASA Hubble survey maps Milky Way bulge, paving way for Roman telescope

A new Hubble Space Telescope survey has produced a high‑resolution, wide‑area catalog of 20‑30 million objects in the Milky Way’s densely packed galactic bulge. By resolving individual stars amid heavy dust obscuration, the project aims to clarify the age distribution of the bulge, challenging the long‑standing view that it consists solely of ancient stars formed about 10 billion years ago. Early results suggest a substantial fraction of younger stars, potentially reshaping models of how the central region of our galaxy evolved.

The survey also serves as a preparatory step for NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which will conduct a microlensing campaign to detect planets and other objects in the same field. Hubble’s pre‑emptive imaging will allow Roman to identify lensing candidates in advance, improving the efficiency of the future mission’s observations. The data will further aid mapping of interstellar dust and stellar motions across the core, supporting broader studies of galactic structure.