spitzer.caltech.eduSpitzer - NASA's Infrared Space Telescope

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Mission Lyman Jr. Mission Overview Technology History Science Science Solar System Planet Formation Exoplanets Stars and Nebulae Galaxies Universe Data Archive Images Video & Audio Hidden Universe IRrelevant Astronomy Ask an Astronomer Science Animations Observatory Animations NASA JPL Videos El Universo Escondido Audio Podcasts News Media Information From Partners News Releases All Explore Team Blog GLIMPSE 360 TRAPPIST-1 Final Voyage Posters Models Video Conference Backgrounds Apps VR All Showcases Mission Launched in 2003, NASA’s Space Telescope was the fourth and final addition to NASA’s Great Observatory program. ’s mission was to become NASA’s premier infrared light observatory, offering astronomers the chance to study the universe in this critical part of the electromagnetic spectrum of light with unprecedented clarity and sensitivity. Read More May 5th, 2009 If Could Talk: An Interview with NASA’s Coolest Space Telescope May 6th, 2009 NASA’s Telescope Warms up to New Career September 24th, 2013 How Engineers Revamped to Probe Exoplanets August 25th, 2016 Space Telescope Begins ’Beyond’ Phase May 3rd, 2017 5000 Days in the Life of an Astronomy Robot December 18th, 2003 NASA Announces New Name for Space Infrared Telescope Facility August 25th, 2003 Space Infrared Telescope Facility Lifts Off June 13th, 2019 How NASA’s Has Stayed Alive for So Long January 30th, 2020 NASA’s Space Telescope Ends Mission of Astronomical Discovery Solar System Circling the sun in its Earth-trailing orbit, provided a remote platform for studying our own Solar System. Its sensitive infrared detectors were well-suited to identify and characterize asteroids, image the dusty debris surrounding comments, and even discover Saturn’s largest ring. Read More February 25th, 2021 Comet Makes a Pit Stop Near Jupiter’s Asteroids April 11th, 2022 Neptune is cooler than we thought: Study reveals unexpected changes in atmospheric temperatures January 13th, 2021 Citizen Scientists Help Create 3D Map of Cosmic Neighborhood September 2nd, 2010 Finds a Flavorful Mix of Asteroids March 15th, 2004 Most Distant Object in Solar System Discovered October 6th, 2009 NASA Space Telescope Discovers Largest Ring Around Saturn September 7th, 2005 NASA’s and Deep Impact Build Recipe for Comet Soup July 23rd, 2013 NASA’s Observes Gas Emission from Comet ISON October 13th, 2008 NASA’s Gets Sneak Peek Inside Comet Holmes Planet Formation One of ’s design goals was to enable astronomers to study the infrared glow of dust and debris orbiting distant stars. This is the source material for building new planets, and it can provide the tell-tale sign of asteroid belts in systems in which planets have already formed. Read More March 18th, 2022 NASA Spots Giant Debris Cloud Created by Clashing Celestial Bodies November 15th, 2023 Webb Follows Neon Signs Toward New Thinking on Planet Formation May 27th, 2004 Raw Ingredients for Life Detected in Planetary Construction Zones December 9th, 2004 and Hubble Capture Evolving Planetary Systems October 18th, 2004 Astronomers Discover Planet Building Is Big Mess January 10th, 2005 Sees Dusty Aftermath of Pluto-Sized Collision December 20th, 2005 Partial Ingredients for DNA and Protein Found Around Star April 5th, 2006 NASA’s Finds Hints of Planet Birth Around Dead Star July 24th, 2006 Planet-Forming Disks Might Put the Brakes on Stars Exoplanets Discovering and studying planets that orbit stars other than our sun have become one of the most active areas of astronomy in the past decades. When launched in 2003 this was not one of its intended science objectives, but innovations by astronomers and engineers during its mission improved its precision and enabled it to become a critical tool for exoplanet work. Read More January 22nd, 2021 The 7 Rocky TRAPPIST-1 Planets May Be Made of Similar Stuff July 26th, 2021 Cosmic Legacy: Retired Space Telescope Reveals ‘Hot Jupiter’ Secrets February 22nd, 2022 Day of Discovery: 7 Earth-Size Planets January 13th, 2022 NASA’s Illuminates Exoplanets in Astronomical Society Briefing May 17th, 2023 NASA’s , TESS Find Potentially Volcano-Covered Earth-Size World March 22nd, 2005 NASA’s Marks Beginning of New Age of Planetary Science February 21st, 2007 NASA’s First To Crack Open Light of Faraway Worlds February 22nd, 2017 NASA Telescope Reveals Largest Batch of Earth-Size, Habitable-Zone Planets Around Single Star March 29th, 2007 NASA Telescope Finds Planets Thrive Around Stellar Twins Stars and Nebulae Stars are born in vast clouds of gas and dust that pulled together through the force of gravity. But much of that process is obscured behind thick clouds of dust that visible light telescopes cannot penetrate. ’s infrared detectors were designed to see deeply into these star-forming regions, and reveal these dark dust clouds as glowing nebulae. Read More August 4th, 2021 Stars Are Exploding in Dusty Galaxies. We Just Can’t Always See Them July 22nd, 2010 NASA Telescope Finds Elusive Buckyballs in Space for First Time November 10th, 2016 NASA Space Telescopes Pinpoint Elusive Brown Dwarf June 3rd, 2008 Two of the Milky Way’s Spiral Arms Go Missing January 8th, 2013 NASA, ESA Telescopes Find Evidence For Asteroid Belt Around Vega December 20th, 2007 10,000 Earths’ Worth of Fresh Dust Found Near Star Explosion January 7th, 2014 Stormy Stars? NASA’s Probes Weather on Brown Dwarfs May 22nd, 2006 Reveals Jets Around a Dead Star October 1st, 2008 Infrared Echoes give NASA’s a Supernova Flashback Galaxies We live within the Milky Way galaxy, a flattened disk of hundreds of billions of other stars, but the Milky Way is but one of trillions of galaxies that fill the observable universe. ’s infrared vision has helped us to more completely understand these immense objects that come in many shapes and sizes. Read More June 25th, 2021 Cosmic dawn occurred 250 to 350 million years after Big Bang May 9th, 2024 NASA Images Help Explain Eating Habits of Massive Black Hole August 17th, 2021 Astronomers Find a ‘Break’ in One of the Milky Way’s Spiral Arms November 18th, 2010 Reveals a Buried Explosion Sparked by a Galactic Train Wreck June 1st, 2004 Spies Parallelogram-Shaped Galactic Meal October 13th, 2005 Lady in Red: Andromeda Galaxy Shines in ’s Eyes March 16th, 2006 Galaxy on Fire! NASA’s Reveals Stellar Smoke July 21st, 2008 Reveals ’No Organics’ Zone Around Pinwheel Galaxy January 5th, 2010 Galaxy Exposes its Dusty Inner Workings in New Image Universe In our expanding universe, to look at increasingly distant objects is also like looking back in time to see things as they were billions of years ago. The very expansion of space expands this ancient light, shifting what was once visible to our eyes ever farther into the infrared spectrum. was built to give us a way to capture this light from galaxies that formed and grew when the universe was young. Read More April 28th, 2020 Telescope Reveals the Precise Timing of a Black Hole Dance December 3rd, 2015 NASA Space Telescopes See Magnified Image of Faintest Galaxy from Early Universe May 28th, 2007 Nets Thousands of Galaxies in a Giant Cluster October 16th, 2017 NASA Missions Catch First Light from a Gravitational-Wave Event May 5th, 2015 Astronomers Set a New Galaxy Distance Record June 14th, 2018 Astronomers See Distant Eruption as Black Hole Destroys Star July 28th, 2005 Finds Life Components in Young Universe October 3rd, 2012 NASA’s Infrared Observatory Measures Expansion Of Universe March 17th, 2010 NASA’s Unearths Primitive Black Holes Recent News More News May 9th, 2024 | ssc2024-02 NASA Images Help Explain Eating Habits of Massive Black Hole In images from NASA’s retired Space Telescope, streams of dust thousands of light-years long flow toward the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Andromeda galaxy. It turns out these streams can help explain how black holes billions of times the mass of our Sun satiate their big...