A montage of images taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope over the years. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Barred Sculptor Galaxy
The spectacular swirling arms and central bar of the Sculptor galaxy are revealed in this new view from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Tortured Clouds of Eta Carinae Massive stars can wreak havoc on their surroundings, as can be seen in this new view of the Carina nebula from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Image credit: NASA/JPL
Young Stars Cradled in Dust
Newborn stars peek out from beneath their natal blanket of dust in this dynamic image of the Rho Ophiuchi dark cloud from Spitzer. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Harvard
Saturn's Largest Ring
Spitzer surprised astronomers in 2009 when it discovered Saturn's largest ring, a slice of which is highlighted in this diagram. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Virginia
Spitzer Spies Spectacular Sombrero
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope set its infrared eyes on one of the most famous objects in the sky, Messier 104, also called the Sombrero galaxy. Image credit: NASA.
Stars Gather in 'Downtown' Milky Way
The region around the center of our Milky Way galaxy glows colorfully in this new version of an image taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Image credit: NASA.
Helix Nebula
Some say Spitzer's infrared view of the Helix nebula -- a dying star and its scattered remains -- resembles the eye a green monster. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ.of Ariz.
A Stellar Family Tree
Generations of stars can be seen in this view of a vast star-forming region dubbed W5. Massive stars at the hearts of the cavities are thought to have blown away surrounding ...
Sword of Orion
This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Orion nebula, our closest massive star-making factory, 1,450 light-years from Earth. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech...
NASA’s Spitzer Telescope Celebrates 10 Years in Space via JPL. Click images to enlarge and read captions. Image Credit: NASA | JPL-Caltech | Harvard-Smithsonian CfA | Univ. of Virginia |University of Arizona | Univ. of Toledo
Ten years after a Delta II rocket launched NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, lighting up the night sky over Cape Canaveral, Fla., the fourth of the agency’s four Great Observatories continues to illuminate the dark side of the cosmos with its infrared eyes.
The telescope studied comets and asteroids, counted stars, scrutinized planets and galaxies, and discovered soccer-ball-shaped carbon spheres in space called buckyballs. Moving into its second decade of scientific scouting from an Earth-trailing orbit, Spitzer continues to explore the cosmos near and far. One additional task is helping NASA observe potential candidates for a developing mission to capture, redirect and explore a near-Earth asteroid.
"President Obama’s goal of visiting an asteroid by 2025 combines NASA’s diverse talents in a unified endeavor," said John Grunsfeld, NASA’s associate administrator for science in Washington. "Using Spitzer to help us characterize asteroids and potential targets for an asteroid mission advances both science and exploration."
Spitzer’s infrared vision lets it see the far, cold and dusty side of the universe. Close to home, the telescope has studied the comet dubbed Tempel 1, which was hit by NASA’s Deep Impact mission in 2005. Spitzer showed the composition of Tempel 1 resembled that of solar systems beyond our own. Spitzer also surprised the world by discovering the largest of Saturn’s many rings. The enormous ring, a wispy band of ice and dust particles, is very faint in visible light, but Spitzer’s infrared detectors were able to pick up the glow from its heat.
Images, top to bottom - left to right:
Montage of images taken by Spitzer.
The Barred Sculptor Galaxy in varied infrared wavelengths.
The Tortured Clouds of Eta Carinae.
Young stars cradled in dust in Rho Ophiuchi dark cloud complex.
Saturn’s largest ring.
Spitzer spies spectacular Sombrero Galaxy.
Stars gather in ‘Downtown’ Milky Way.
Helix Nebula.
Stellar family tree, star forming region W5.
Sword of Orion, Orion’s Nebula.
Perhaps Spitzer’s most astonishing finds came from beyond our solar system. The telescope was the first to detect light coming from a planet outside our solar system, a feat not in the mission’s original design. With Spitzer’s ongoing studies of these exotic worlds, astronomers have been able to probe their composition, dynamics and more, revolutionizing the study of exoplanet atmospheres.
Other discoveries and accomplishments of the mission include getting a complete census of forming stars in nearby clouds; making a new and improved map of the Milky Way’s spiral-arm structure; and, with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, discovering that the most distant galaxies known are more massive and mature than expected.
In October, Spitzer will attempt infrared observations of a small near-Earth asteroid named 2009 DB to better determine its size, a study that will assist NASA in understanding potential candidates for the agency’s asteroid capture and redirection mission. This asteroid is one of many candidates the agency is evaluating.
Spitzer, originally called the Space Infrared Telescope Facility, was renamed after its launch in honor of the late astronomer Lyman Spitzer. Considered the father of space telescopes, Lyman Spitzer began campaigning to put telescopes in space, away from the blurring effects of Earth’s atmosphere, as early as the 1940s. His efforts also led to the development and deployment of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, carried to orbit by the space shuttle in 1990.
In anticipation of the Hubble launch, NASA set up the Great Observatories program to fly a total of four space telescopes designed to cover a range of wavelengths: Hubble, Spitzer, the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the now-defunct Compton Gamma Ray Observatory.
Spitzer ran out of the coolant needed to chill its longer-wavelength instruments in 2009, and entered the so-called warm mission phase. Now, after its tenth year of peeling back the hidden layers of the cosmos, its journey continues.
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via thescienceofreality