We launched our Spitzer Space Telescope into orbit around Sunday on August 25, 2003. Since then, the observatory has been lifting the veil on the wonders of the cosmos, from our own solar system to distant galaxies, using infrared light.
Thanks to Spitzer, scientists have confirmed the existence of seven rocky, Earth-sized planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system. The telescope also provided weather maps of hot, gas-filled exoplanets and revealed a hidden ring around Saturn. It shed light on hidden collections of dust in various locations, including cosmic nebulae (clouds of gas and dust in space), where young stars form, and rotating galaxies. Additionally, Spitzer probes some of the oldest galaxies in the universe and stares at the black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
In honor of Spitzer’s Sweet 16 in space, here are 16 amazing photos from the mission.
Giant Star is making waves
This Spitzer image shows the giant star Zeta Ophiuchi and the bow shock, or shock wave, in front of it. Visible only in infrared light, the bow shock is created by winds flowing from the star, creating ripples in the surrounding dust.
The Seven Sisters Pose for Spitzer
The Pleiades star cluster, also known as the Seven Sisters, is a frequent target for night sky observers. This image from Spitzer zooms in on some members of the sisterhood. The filaments surrounding the stars are dust, and the three colors represent different wavelengths of infrared light.
Baby Stars in Their Baby Dust Blankets
Newborn stars peek out from under their blanket of dust in this photo of Rho Ophiuchi nebula. Called “Rho Oph” by astronomers and located about 400 light-years from Earth, it is one of the closest star-forming regions to our own solar system.
The youngest stars in this image are surrounded by dusty disks of material from which stars – and their potential planetary systems – form. More evolved stars, which shed their natal material, are bluer.
The Infrared Helix
Located about 700 light-years from Earth, the eye-like Helix nebula is a planetary nebula, or the remnants of a Sun-like star. When these stars run out of their internal fuel supply, their outer layers explode to create a nebula. Our Sun will blossom into a planetary nebula when it dies in about 5 billion years.
The Tortured Clouds of Eta Carinae
The bright star in the center of this picture is Eta Carinae, one of the largest stars in the Milky Way galaxy. At about 100 times the mass of the Sun and at least 1 million times the luminosity, Eta Carinae emits a massive outburst of energy that collapses into the surrounding nebula.
Spitzer Spies Stunning Hat
Located 28 million light-years from Earth, Messier 104 — also called the Sombrero galaxy or M104 — is notable for its near-end orientation as seen from our planet. Spitzer observations were the first to show a smooth, bright ring of dust (seen in red) swirling through space.
Spiral Galaxy Messier 81
This infrared image of space Messier 81, or M81, shows dust lanes illuminated by active star formation throughout the galaxy’s spiral arms. Located in the northern constellation of Ursa Major (which includes the Big Dipper), M81 is also about 12 million light-years from Earth.
Spitzer Reveals Stellar Smoke
Messier 82 — also known as the Cigar galaxy or M82 — is a nest of young and large stars. In visible light, it appears as a diffuse bar of blue light, but in this infrared image, scientists can see large red clouds of dust being blown into space by the wind and radiation from those stars.
A Pinwheel Galaxy Rainbow
This image of Messier 101, also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy or M101, combines infrared, visible, ultraviolet and X-ray data from Spitzer and three other NASA space telescopes: Hubble, the Galaxy Evolution Explorer’s Far Ultraviolet detector (GALEX) and Chandra X-Ray Observatory. The galaxy is about 70% larger than our own Milky Way, with a diameter of about 170,000 light-years, and is 21 million light-years from Earth. Read more about its colors here.
Cartwheel Galaxy is Making Waves
About 100 million years ago, a smaller galaxy plunged into the center of the Cartwheel galaxy, which creates short star ripples. Like the Pinwheel galaxy above, this composite image includes data from NASA’s Spitzer, Hubble, GALEX and Chandra observatories.
The first ripple appears as a bright blue outer ring around the larger object, emitting ultraviolet light visible to GALEX. The pink clusters along the outer blue ring are X-ray (observed by Chandra) and ultraviolet radiation.
Spitzer and Hubble Create Colorful Masterpieces
Located 1,500 light-years from Earth, the Orion nebula is the brightest spot in the sword of the constellation Orion. Four large stars, collectively called Trapezium, appears as a yellow spot near the center of the image. Visible and ultraviolet data from Hubble show up as swirls of green indicating the presence of gas heated by intense ultraviolet radiation from Trapezium’s stars. Less embedded stars appear as specks of green, and foreground stars as blue spots. Meanwhile, Spitzer’s infrared view reveals carbon-rich molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, shown here as wisps of red and orange. The orange-yellow dots are baby stars deeply embedded in cocoons of dust and gas.
A Space Spider Observes Young Stars
Located about 10,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Auriga, the Spider nebula living in the outer part of the Milky Way. Combining data from Spitzer and the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), the image shows green dust clouds illuminated by star formation in the region.
North America Nebula in Different Lights
This view of North America nebula combines visible light collected by the Digitized Sky Survey with infrared light from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. Blue colors represent visible light, while infrared is shown as red and green. Clusters of young stars (about 1 million years old) can be seen throughout the image.
Spitzer Captures the Exciting Center of Our Galaxy
This infrared mosaic offers a stunning view of the The busy center of the Milky Way galaxy. The imaged region, located in the constellation Sagittarius, is 900 light-years across and shows hundreds of thousands of mostly old stars amid clouds of glowing dust illuminated by younger, more massive stars. Our Sun is located 26,000 light-years away in a more peaceful, spacious neighborhood, outside the galactic suburbs.
The Eternal Life of Stardust
The Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy located about 160,000 light-years from Earth, looks like a shifting sea of dust in this infrared image. The blue color, most prominent in the middle bar, represents starlight from older stars. The turbulent, bright regions outside this bar are filled with hot, massive stars buried in a thick blanket of dust.
A Stellar Family Portrait
Here in large celestial mosaic from Spitzer, there is much to see, including many clusters of stars born from both dense clumps of gas and dust. The grand green-and-orange delta that fills most of the image is a distant nebula. The bright white region at its tip is illuminated by massive stars, and dust heated by the stars’ radiation creates a surrounding red glow.
Managed by our Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, Spitzer’s main mission lasted five-and-a-half years and ended when it ran out of the liquid helium coolant needed to operate two of its three instruments. But, its passive-cooling design allowed part of its third instrument to continue to operate for more than 10 additional years. The mission is scheduled to end on January 30, 2020.
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