![]() ![]() The Spitzer infrared telescopes's first images quickly re-confirmed that celestial objects viewed through ground-based telescopes and the Hubble Space Telescope look quite different when seen in infrared light. Spitzer Space Telescope image of the dusty, starry arms of spiral galaxy M81 It is so far from Earth that it won't be refueled when the helium runs out. Spitzer has sufficient helium to keep it cold and working until about 2008 or 2009. That's the cryogen that chills the infrared detectors to a temperature near absolute zero, so they can achieve the highest level of sensitivity to the infrared spectrum of light. Spitzer's dewar was topped off with 90 gallons of super-cold liquid helium. It has a double wall with a vacuum between the walls and silvered surfaces facing the vacuum. A dewar is an insulated container used to store liquefied gases. Spitzer has a solar shield and is in an unusual Earth-trailing solar orbit, which places the satellite far enough away from the Earth to allow the telescope to cool without using large amounts of cryogen coolant.ĭewar. The telescope also must be protected from the heat of the Sun as well as infrared radiated from Earth. Absolute zero is a temperature of –459 degrees Fahrenheit or –273 degrees Celsius. Because infrared energy is heat, the telescope must be cooled to a temperature near absolute zero to see infrared unobstructed by heat generated by the telescope itself. In fact, many organic and inorganic molecules in space are seen best in infrared light. Some of which are smaller stars too dim to be seen in visible light, planets around other stars, and giant clouds of molecules. Infrared light also reveals cooler objects across the Universe. Much of deep space is filled with vast, dense clouds of gas and dust which block our view of visible light.įortunately, infrared light can penetrate the clouds of dust and gas, allowing us to see into the centers of galaxies and uncover stars and planetary systems forming.Ĭool stars. The science instruments are very sensitive, allowing astronomers to peer into regions of the Universe hidden from optical telescopes. The Spitzer satellite carries a 0.85-meter telescope and three cryogenically-cooled science instruments. Spitzer is the largest infrared telescope ever launched into space. The heat is infrared energy on the electromagnetic spectrum between the wavelengths of 3 and 180 microns. Spitzer makes its images by detecting and recording heat coming from objects in deep space across the Universe. Spitzer (SIRTF) is a 3,000-lb., 0.85-meter, cryogenically-cooled, space telescope operating as an unmanned infrared astronomy observatory in a solar orbit far beyond the Earth and the Moon.īecause most of the infrared radiation arriving at Earth is blocked by our planet's atmosphere and cannot be observed from the ground, astronomers need Spitzer's infrared sensitivity above Earth's atmosphere to record what they call "the Old, the Cold, and the Dirty," meaning the oldest and coldest things most blocked from our vision across the Universe. It was the 300th spaceflight for the Delta rocket family. The Spitzer Space Telescope was lofted to Earth orbit on a Delta rocket from Kennedy Space Center's launch complex 17-B at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on August 25, 2003. He was the driving force behind development of the Hubble Space Telescope. Spitzer was the first to propose placing a large telescope in space. He contributed to human knowledge of astronomy, thermonuclear fusion, stellar dynamics, and plasma physics. Spitzer was one of the great scientists of the 20th century. Once in space, SIRTF was renamed Spitzer Space Telescope for Ohio native and astrophysicist Lyman Spitzer, Jr., who lived from 1914-1997. Spitzer is the fourth and last of NASA's series of Great Observatories in Space, a program that has included Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory and Compton Gamma Ray Observatory.īefore it was launched August 25, 2003, the Spitzer Space Telescope had been known as the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF). The Spitzer Space Telescope is orbiting the Sun on a five-year mission to reveal previously hidden, dusty regions of the Universe as well as cold and distant objects. Spitzer Space Telescope shows a cluster of 130 bright newborn stars in the rosebud shaped, rose colored nebula NGC 7129, which is some 3,300 lightyears from EarthĬredit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Harvard-Smithsonian CfA Spitzer Infrared Telescope Orbits the Sun The Spitzer Space Infrared Telescope Facilityįourth of NASA's Great Observatories for Space Astrophysics
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