Spitzer Space Telescope Pictures Gallery
Want to see some incredible images of the universe? Check out these pictures taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope.
The Spitzer Space Telescope (formerly SIRTF, the Space Infrared Telescope Facility) was launched into space by a Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida on 25 August 2003. During its mission, Spitzer will obtain images and spectra by detecting the infrared energy, or heat, radiated by objects in space between wavelengths of 3 and 180 microns (1 micron is one-millionth of a meter). Most of this infrared radiation is blocked by the Earth's atmosphere and cannot be observed from the ground.
Consisting of a 0.85-meter telescope and three cryogenically-cooled science instruments, Spitzer is the largest infrared telescope ever launched into space. Its highly sensitive instruments give us a unique view of the Universe and allow us to peer into regions of space which are hidden from optical telescopes. Many areas of space are filled with vast, dense clouds of gas and dust which block our view.
Visit our Spitzer Space Telescope Pictures Gallery.
Image Credit:
- Top - Where Galactic Snakes Live - NASA/JPL-Caltech/S. Carey (SSC/Caltech)
- Bottom - Messier 81 - NASA/JPL-Caltech/K Gordon (UA) and S Willner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astronomy), NA Sharp (NOAO/AURA/NSF)