Spitzer Space Telescope

(i)

Great Observatories

Great Observatories program

← Chandra

The Spitzer Space Telescope
Telescope (SST), formerly the Space Infrared Telescope
Telescope Facility (SIRTF), is an infrared space telescope launched in 2003. It is the fourth and final of the NASA
NASA Great Observatories program. The planned mission period was to be 2.5 years with a pre-launch expectation that the mission could extend to five or slightly more years until the onboard liquid helium supply was exhausted. This occurred on 15 May 2009.[7] Without liquid helium to cool the telescope to the very low temperatures needed to operate, most of the instruments are no longer usable. However, the two shortest-wavelength modules of the IRAC camera are still operable with the same sensitivity as before the cryogen was exhausted, and will continue to be used in the Spitzer Warm Mission.[8] All Spitzer data, from both the primary and warm phases, are archived at the Infrared
Infrared Science Archive (IRSA). In keeping with NASA
NASA tradition, the telescope was renamed after its successful demonstration of operation, on 18 December 2003. Unlike most telescopes that are named after famous deceased astronomers by a board of scientists, the new name for SIRTF was obtained from a contest open to the general public. The contest led to the telescope being named in honor of astronomer Lyman Spitzer, who had promoted the concept of space telescopes in the 1940s.[9] Spitzer wrote a 1946 report for RAND Corporation
RAND Corporation describing the advantages of an extraterrestrial observatory and how it could be realized with available or upcoming technology.[10][11] He has been cited for his pioneering contributions to rocketry and astronomy, as well as "his vision and leadership in articulating the advantages and benefits to be realized from the Space Telescope
Telescope Program."[9] The US$720 million[12] Spitzer was launched on 25 August 2003 at 05:35:39 UTC
UTC from Cape Canaveral SLC-17B aboard a Delta II
Delta II 7920H rocket.[2] It follows a heliocentric instead of geocentric orbit, trailing and drifting away from Earth's orbit at approximately 0.1 astronomical units per year (a so-called "earth-trailing" orbit). The primary mirror is 85 centimeters (33 in) in diameter, f/12, made of beryllium and was cooled to 5.5 K (−268 °C; −450 °F). The satellite contains three instruments that allow it to perform astronomical imaging and photometry from 3.6 to 160 micrometers, spectroscopy from 5.2 to 38 micrometers, and spectrophotometry from 5 to 100 micrometers.[6]

Contents

1 History 2 Instruments 3 Results

3.1 GLIMPSE and MIPSGAL surveys 3.2 2010s 3.3 Spitzer Beyond 3.4 Planet hunter

4 See also 5 References 6 External links

History[edit] By the early 1970s, astronomers began to consider the possibility of placing an infrared telescope above the obscuring effects of Earth's atmosphere. In 1979, a report from the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, A Strategy for Space Astronomy
Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 1980s, identified a Space Infrared
Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) as "one of two major astrophysics facilities [to be developed] for Spacelab", a Shuttle-borne platform. Anticipating the major results from an upcoming Explorer satellite and from the Shuttle mission, the report also favored the "study and development of ... long-duration spaceflights of infrared telescopes cooled to cryogenic temperatures." The launch in January 1983 of the Infrared
Infrared Astronomical Satellite, jointly developed by the United States, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, to conduct the first infrared survey of the sky, whetted the appetites of scientists worldwide for follow-up space missions capitalizing on the rapid improvements in infrared detector technology. Earlier infrared observations had been made by both space-based and ground-based observatories. Ground-based observatories have the drawback that at infrared wavelengths or frequencies, both the Earth's atmosphere and the telescope itself will radiate (glow) strongly. Additionally, the atmosphere is opaque at most infrared wavelengths. This necessitates lengthy exposure times and greatly decreases the ability to detect faint objects. It could be compared to trying to observe the stars at noon. Previous space observatories (such as IRAS, the Infrared
Infrared Astronomical Satellite, and ISO, the Infrared
Infrared Space Observatory) were launched during the 1980s and 1990s and great advances in astronomical technology have been made since then.

SIRTF in a Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center clean room

Launch of SIRTF in 2003 aboard the 300th Delta rocket

Most of the early concepts envisioned repeated flights aboard the NASA Space Shuttle. This approach was developed in an era when the Shuttle program was expected to support weekly flights of up to 30 days duration. A May 1983 NASA
NASA proposal described SIRTF as a Shuttle-attached mission, with an evolving scientific instrument payload. Several flights were anticipated with a probable transition into a more extended mode of operation, possibly in association with a future space platform or space station. SIRTF would be a 1-meter class, cryogenically cooled, multi-user facility consisting of a telescope and associated focal plane instruments. It would be launched on the Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle and remain attached to the Shuttle as a Spacelab payload during astronomical observations, after which it would be returned to Earth for refurbishment prior to re-flight. The first flight was expected to occur about 1990, with the succeeding flights anticipated beginning approximately one year later. However, the Spacelab-2 flight aboard STS-51-F
STS-51-F showed that the Shuttle environment was poorly suited to an onboard infrared telescope due to contamination from the relatively "dirty" vacuum associated with the orbiters. By September 1983 NASA
NASA was considering the "possibility of a long duration [free-flyer] SIRTF mission".[13][14] Spitzer is the only one of the Great Observatories
Great Observatories not launched by the Space Shuttle, as was originally intended. However, after the 1986 Challenger disaster, the Centaur LH2– LOX
LOX upper stage, which would have been required to place it in its final orbit, was banned from Shuttle use. The mission underwent a series of redesigns during the 1990s, primarily due to budget considerations. This resulted in a much smaller but still fully capable mission that could use the smaller Delta II
Delta II expendable launch vehicle. One of the most important advances of this redesign was an Earth-trailing orbit. Cryogenic satellites that require liquid helium (LHe, T ≈ 4 K) temperatures in near-Earth orbit are typically exposed to a large heat load from the Earth, and consequently require large amounts of LHe coolant, which then tends to dominate the total payload mass and limits mission life. Placing the satellite in solar orbit far from Earth allowed innovative passive cooling such as the sun shield, against the single remaining major heat source to drastically reduce the total mass of helium needed, resulting in an overall smaller lighter payload, with major cost savings. This orbit also simplifies telescope pointing, but does require the NASA
NASA Deep Space Network
Space Network for communications. The primary instrument package (telescope and cryogenic chamber) was developed by Ball Aerospace
Ball Aerospace & Technologies, in Boulder, Colorado. The individual instruments were developed jointly by industrial, academic, and government institutions, the principals being Cornell, the University of Arizona, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Ball Aerospace, and Goddard Spaceflight Center. The shorter-wavelength infrared detectors were developed by Raytheon in Goleta, California. Raytheon used indium antimonide and a doped silicon detector in the creation of the infrared detectors. It is stated that these detectors are 100 times more sensitive than what was once available in the beginning of the project during the 1980s.[15] The far-IR detectors (70 - 160 micrometers) were developed jointly by the University of Arizona and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory using Gallium-doped Germanium. The spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin. The mission is operated and managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Spitzer Science Center,[16] located on the Caltech
Caltech campus in Pasadena, California. Spitzer ran out of liquid helium coolant on 15 May 2009, which stopped far-IR observations. Only the IRAC instrument remains in use, and only at the two shorter wavelength bands (3.6 µm and 4.5 µm). The telescope equilibrium temperature is now around 30 K (−243 °C; −406 °F), and IRAC continues to produce valuable images at those wavelengths as the "Spitzer Warm Mission".[17] Instruments[edit]

Henize 206
Henize 206 viewed by different instruments in March 2004. The separate IRAC and MPIS images are at right.

Spitzer carries three instruments on-board:[18][19][20][21]

Infrared
Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) An infrared camera which operates simultaneously on four wavelengths (3.6 µm, 4.5 µm, 5.8 µm and 8 µm). Each module uses a 256×256-pixel detector—the short wavelength pair use indium antimonide technology, the long wavelength pair use arsenic-doped silicon impurity band conduction technology.[22] The principal investigator is Giovanni Fazio of Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; the flight hardware was built by NASA
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Infrared
Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) An infrared spectrometer with four sub-modules which operate at the wavelengths 5.3–14 µm (low resolution), 10–19.5 µm (high resolution), 14–40 µm (low resolution), and 19–37 µm (high resolution). Each module uses a 128×128-pixel detector—the short wavelength pair use arsenic-doped silicon blocked impurity band technology, the long wavelength pair use antimony-doped silicon blocked impurity band technology.[23] The principal investigator is James R. Houck of Cornell University; the flight hardware was built by Ball Aerospace. Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS) Three detector arrays in the far infrared (128 × 128 pixels at 24 µm, 32 × 32 pixels at 70 µm, 2 × 20 pixels at 160 µm). The 24 µm detector is identical to one of the IRS short wavelength modules. The 70 µm detector uses gallium-doped germanium technology, and the 160 µm detector also uses gallium-doped germanium, but with mechanical stress added to each pixel to lower the bandgap and extend sensitivity to this long wavelength.[24] The principal investigator is George H. Rieke of the University of Arizona; the flight hardware was built by Ball Aerospace.

Results[edit]

Spitzer's first light image of IC 1396.

The first images taken by SST were designed to show off the abilities of the telescope and showed a glowing stellar nursery; a big swirling, dusty galaxy; a disc of planet-forming debris; and organic material in the distant universe. Since then, many monthly press releases have highlighted Spitzer's capabilities, as the NASA
NASA and ESA
ESA images do for the Hubble Space Telescope. As one of its most noteworthy observations, in 2005, SST became the first telescope to directly capture light from exoplanets, namely the "hot Jupiters" HD 209458 b
HD 209458 b and TrES-1b, although it did not resolve that light into actual images.[25] This was the first time extrasolar planets had actually been visually seen; earlier observations had been indirectly made by drawing conclusions from behaviors of the stars the planets were orbiting. The telescope also discovered in April 2005 that Cohen-kuhi Tau/4 had a planetary disk that was vastly younger and contained less mass than previously theorized, leading to new understandings of how planets are formed.

The Helix Nebula. Blue shows infrared light of 3.6 to 4.5 micrometers; green shows infrared light of 5.8 to 8 micrometers; and red shows infrared light of 24 micrometers.

While some time on the telescope is reserved for participating institutions and crucial projects, astronomers around the world also have the opportunity to submit proposals for observing time. Important targets include forming stars (young stellar objects, or YSOs), planets, and other galaxies. Images are freely available for educational and journalistic purposes. In 2004, it was reported that Spitzer had spotted a faintly glowing body that may be the youngest star ever seen. The telescope was trained on a core of gas and dust known as L1014
L1014 which had previously appeared completely dark to ground-based observatories and to ISO ( Infrared
Infrared Space Observatory), a predecessor to Spitzer. The advanced technology of Spitzer revealed a bright red hot spot in the middle of L1014. Scientists from the University of Texas at Austin, who discovered the object, believe the hot spot to be an example of early star development, with the young star collecting gas and dust from the cloud around it. Early speculation about the hot spot was that it might have been the faint light of another core that lies 10 times further from Earth but along the same line of sight as L1014. Follow-up observation from ground-based near-infrared observatories detected a faint fan-shaped glow in the same location as the object found by Spitzer. That glow is too feeble to have come from the more distant core, leading to the conclusion that the object is located within L1014. (Young et al., 2004) In 2005, astronomers from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Whitewater determined, on the basis of 400 hours of observation on the Spitzer Space Telescope, that the Milky Way
Milky Way galaxy has a more substantial bar structure across its core than previously recognized.

Artificial color image of the Double Helix Nebula, thought to be generated at the galactic center by magnetic torsion 1000 times greater than the Sun's.

Also in 2005, astronomers Alexander Kashlinsky
Alexander Kashlinsky and John Mather of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Goddard Space Flight Center reported that one of Spitzer's earliest images may have captured the light of the first stars in the universe. An image of a quasar in the Draco constellation, intended only to help calibrate the telescope, was found to contain an infrared glow after the light of known objects was removed. Kashlinsky and Mather are convinced that the numerous blobs in this glow are the light of stars that formed as early as 100 million years after the Big Bang, redshifted by cosmic expansion.[26] In March 2006, astronomers reported an 80-light-year long (25 pc) nebula near the center of the Milky Way
Milky Way Galaxy, the Double Helix Nebula, which is, as the name implies, twisted into a double spiral shape. This is thought to be evidence of massive magnetic fields generated by the gas disc orbiting the supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center, 300 light-years (92 pc) from the nebula and 25,000 light-years (7,700 pc) from Earth. This nebula was discovered by Spitzer and published in the magazine Nature on 16 March 2006. In May 2007, astronomers successfully mapped the atmospheric temperature of HD 189733 b, thus obtaining the first map of some kind of an extrasolar planet. Since September 2006 the telescope participates in a series of surveys called the Gould Belt
Gould Belt Survey, observing the Gould's Belt region in multiple wavelengths. The first set of observations by the Spitzer Space Telescope
Telescope were completed from 21 September 2006 through 27 September. Resulting from these observations, the team of astronomers led by Dr. Robert Gutermuth, of the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics reported the discovery of Serpens
Serpens South, a cluster of 50 young stars in the Serpens
Serpens constellation.

The Andromeda Galaxy
Galaxy taken by MIPS at 24 micrometers

Scientists have long wondered how tiny silicate crystals, which need high temperatures to form, have found their way into frozen comets, born in the very cold environment of the Solar System's outer edges. The crystals would have begun as non-crystallized, amorphous silicate particles, part of the mix of gas and dust from which the Solar System developed. This mystery has deepened with the results of the Stardust sample return mission, which captured particles from Comet Wild 2. Many of the Stardust particles were found to have formed at temperatures in excess of 1000 K. In May 2009, Spitzer researchers from Germany, Hungary and the Netherlands found that amorphous silicate appears to have been transformed into crystalline form by an outburst from a star. They detected the infrared signature of forsterite silicate crystals on the disk of dust and gas surrounding the star EX Lupi during one of its frequent flare-ups, or outbursts, seen by Spitzer in April 2008. These crystals were not present in Spitzer's previous observations of the star's disk during one of its quiet periods. These crystals appear to have formed by radiative heating of the dust within 0.5 AU of EX Lupi.[27][28] In August 2009, the telescope found evidence of a high-speed collision between two burgeoning planets orbiting a young star.[29] In October 2009, astronomers Anne J. Verbiscer, Michael F. Skrutskie, and Douglas P. Hamilton published findings of the "Phoebe ring" of Saturn, which was found with the telescope; the ring is a huge, tenuous disc of material extending from 128 to 207 times the radius of Saturn.[30] GLIMPSE and MIPSGAL surveys[edit] GLIMPSE, the Galactic Legacy Infrared
Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire, is a survey spanning 300° of the inner Milky Way
Milky Way galaxy. It consists of approximately 444,000 images taken at four separate wavelengths using the Infrared
Infrared Array Camera.[31] MIPSGAL is a similar survey covering 278° of the galactic disk at longer wavelengths. On 3 June 2008, scientists unveiled the largest, most detailed infra-red portrait of the Milky Way, created by stitching together more than 800,000 snapshots, at the 212th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in St. Louis, Missouri.[32][33] This composite survey is now viewable with the GLIMPSE/MIPSGAL Viewer.[34] 2010s[edit]

An arrow points to the embryonic star HOPS-68, where scientists believe forsterite crystals are raining down onto the central dust disk.

Spitzer observations, announced in May 2011, indicate that tiny forsterite crystals might be falling down like rain on to the protostar HOPS-68. The discovery of the forsterite crystals in the outer collapsing cloud of the protostar is surprising, because the crystals form at lava-like high temperatures, yet they are found in the molecular cloud where the temperatures are about −170 °C (103 K; −274 °F). This led the team of astronomers to speculate that the bipolar outflow from the young star may be transporting the forsterite crystals from near the star's surface to the chilly outer cloud.[35][36] In January 2012, it was reported that further analysis of the Spitzer observations of EX Lupi can be understood if the forsterite crystalline dust was moving away from the protostar at a remarkable average speed of 38 kilometres per second (24 mi/s). It would appear that such high speeds can arise only if the dust grains had been ejected by a bipolar outflow close to the star.[37] Such observations are consistent with an astrophysical theory, developed in the early 1990s, where it was suggested that bipolar outflows garden or transform the disks of gas and dust that surround protostars by continually ejecting reprocessed, highly heated material from the inner disk, adjacent to the protostar, to regions of the accretion disk further away from the protostar.[38] In April 2015, Spitzer and the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment were reported as co-discovering one of the most distant planets ever identified: a gas giant about 13,000 light-years (4,000 pc) away from Earth.[39]

Illustration of a brown dwarf combined with a graph of light curves from OGLE-2015-BLG-1319: Ground-based data (grey), Swift (blue), and Spitzer (red)

In June and July 2015, the brown dwarf OGLE-2015-BLG-1319 was discovered using the gravitational microlensing detection method in a joint effort between Swift, Spitzer, and the ground-based Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment, the first time two space telescopes have observed the same microlensing event. This method was possible because of the large separation between the two spacecraft: Swift is in low-Earth orbit while Spitzer is more than one AU distant in an Earth-trailing heliocentric orbit. This separation provided significantly different perspectives of the brown dwarf, allowing for constraints to be placed on some of the object's physical characteristics.[40] Reported in March 2016, Spitzer and Hubble were used to discover the most distant-known galaxy, GN-z11. This object was seen as it appeared 13.4 billion years ago.[41][42] Spitzer Beyond[edit] On 1 October 2016, Spitzer began its Observation Cycle 13, a 2 1⁄2 year extended mission nicknamed Beyond. One of the goals of this extended mission is to help prepare for the James Webb Space Telescope, also an infrared telescope, by identifying candidates for more detailed observations.[42] Another aspect of the Beyond mission are the engineering challenges of operating Spitzer in its progressing orbital phase. As the spacecraft moves farther from Earth on the same orbital path from the Sun, its antenna must point at increasingly higher angles to communicate with ground stations; this change in angle imparts more and more solar heating on the vehicle while its solar panels receive less sunlight.[42] Planet hunter[edit]

Artist's impression of the TRAPPIST-1
TRAPPIST-1 system

Spitzer has been put to work studying exoplanets thanks to creatively tweaking its hardware. This included doubling its stability by modifying its heating cycle, finding a new use for the "peak-up" camera, and analyzing the sensor at a sub-pixel level. Although in its "warm" mission, the spacecraft's passive cooling system keeps the sensors at 29 K (−244 °C; −407 °F).[43] Spitzer can use the transit photometry and gravitational microlensing techniques to perform these observations.[42] According to NASA's Sean Carey, "We never even considered using Spitzer for studying exoplanets when it launched. ... It would have seemed ludicrous back then, but now it's an important part of what Spitzer does."[42] Examples of exoplanets discovered using Spitzer include HD 219134 b
HD 219134 b in 2015, which was shown to be a rocky planet about 1.5 times as large as Earth in a three-day orbit around its star;[44] and an unnamed planet found using microlensing located about 13,000 light-years (4,000 pc) from Earth.[45] In September–October 2016, Spitzer was used to discover five of a total of seven known planets around the star TRAPPIST-1, all of which are approximately Earth sized and likely rocky.[46][47] Three of the discovered planets are located in the habitable zone, which means they are capable of supporting liquid water given sufficient parameters.[48] Using the transit method, Spitzer helped measure the sizes of the seven planets and estimate the mass and density of the inner six. Further observations will help determine if there is liquid water on any of the planets.[46] See also[edit]

Astronomy
Astronomy portal

Infrared
Infrared astronomy List of space telescopes List of largest infrared telescopes Herschel Space Observatory
Observatory (2009-2013)

References[edit]

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NASA / JPL. Archived from the original on 4 July 2010. Retrieved 16 September 2009. ^ a b "Who was Lyman Spitzer?". Nasa: For Educators. California Institute of Technology and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 11 March 2004. Retrieved 6 January 2009. ^ Carolyn Collins Petersen; John C. Brandt (1998). Hubble vision: further adventures with the Hubble Space Telescope. CUP Archive. p. 193. ISBN 0-521-59291-7. ^ Zimmerman, Robert (2008). The universe in a mirror: the saga of the Hubble Telescope
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Telescope Story". Academy Sharing Knowledge. NASA. Archived from the original on 8 September 2007. Retrieved 9 December 2007. ^ Raytheon Company : Investor Relations : News Release. Investor.raytheon.com (8 January 2004). Retrieved on 21 July 2013. ^ Spitzer Science Center Home Page -- Public information. ^ Clavin, Whitney B.; Harrington, J. D. (5 August 2009). "NASA's Spitzer Sees the Cosmos Through 'Warm' Infrared
Infrared Eyes". NASA. Retrieved 30 January 2016. ^ SSC Observatory
Observatory general information page Archived 6 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine., 4 October 2009. ^ SSC Observatory
Observatory Overview Archived 10 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine., 4 October 2009. ^ SSC Science Information home page, 4 October 2009. ^ Spitzer Observers' Manual Archived 11 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine., reference for technical instrument information, Ver 8, 15 August 2008. ^ SSC IRAC (Mid IR camera) science users information page, 4 October 2009. ^ SSC IRS (spectrometer) science users' information page, 4 October 2009. ^ SSC MIPS (long wavelength 24um, 70um, & 160um) imaging photometer and spectrometer science users' information page, 4 October 2009. ^ Press Release: NASA's Spitzer Marks Beginning of New Age of Planetary Science. ^ Infrared
Infrared Glow of First Stars Found: Scientific American Archived 10 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine.. ^ JPL News Spitzer Catches Star Cooking Up Comet Crystals ^ Ábrahám, P.; et al. (14 May 2009). "Episodic formation of cometary material in the outburst of a young Sun-like star". Nature. 459 (7244): 224–226. arXiv:0906.3161 . Bibcode:2009Natur.459..224A. doi:10.1038/nature08004. PMID 19444209. ^ BBC NEWS Science & Environment Traces of planet collision found ^ Verbiscer, Anne; Michael Skrutskie; Douglas Hamilton (7 October 2009). "Saturn's largest ring" (PDF). Nature. 461 (7267): 1098–100. Bibcode:2009Natur.461.1098V. doi:10.1038/nature08515. PMID 19812546. ^ Galactic Legacy Infrared
Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire, University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Astronomy ^ Press Release: Spitzer Captures Stellar Coming of Age in Our Galaxy ^ Released Images and Videos of Milky Way
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NASA Mission News Spitzer Sees Crystal Rain in Infant Star Outer Clouds ^ Poteet, C. A.; et al. (June 2011). "A Spitzer Infrared
Infrared Spectrograph Detection of Crystalline Silicates in a Protostellar Envelope". the Astrophysical Journal Letters. 733 (2): L32. arXiv:1104.4498 . Bibcode:2011ApJ...733L..32P. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/733/2/L32. ^ Juhász, A.; et al. (January 2012). "The 2008 Outburst of EX Lup—Silicate Crystals in Motion". The Astrophysical Journal. 744 (2): 118. arXiv:1110.3754 . Bibcode:2012ApJ...744..118J. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/744/2/118. ^ Liffman, K.; Brown, M. (October 1995). "The motion and size sorting of particles ejected from a protostellar accretion disk". Icarus. 116 (2): 275–290. Bibcode:1995Icar..116..275L. doi:10.1006/icar.1995.1126. ^ Howell, Elizabeth (16 April 2015). "Newfound Alien Planet Is One of the Farthest Ever Detected". Space.com. Retrieved 14 December 2016. ^ Landau, Elizabeth (10 November 2016). " NASA
NASA Space Telescopes Pinpoint Elusive Brown Dwarf". NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 18 December 2016. ^ "Hubble Team Breaks Cosmic Distance Record". Spitzer Space Telescope. NASA. 3 March 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2016. ^ a b c d e Landau, Elizabeth (25 August 2016). "Spitzer Space Telescope
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External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Spitzer space telescope.

Spitzer Space Telescope
Telescope at NASA.gov Spitzer Space Telescope
Telescope at Caltech.edu Spitzer Space Telescope
Telescope by NASA's Solar System Exploration GLIMPSE/MIPSGAL image viewer at Alienearths.org

v t e

Space observatories

Operating

AGILE AMS-02 ASTERIA Astrosat CALET Chandra (AXAF) DAMPE Fermi Gaia HXMT (Insight) Hinode
Hinode (Solar-B) HiRISE Hisaki (SPRINT-A) Hubble INTEGRAL IBEX IRIS ISS-CREAM Kepler MAXI Mikhailo Lomonosov MOST NEOSSat NICER NuSTAR Odin R/HESSI SDO SOHO SOLAR Spektr-R Spitzer Swift TUGSAT-1 and UniBRITE-1 WISE XMM-Newton

Planned

CHEOPS
CHEOPS (2018) Mini-EUSO (2018) Solar Orbiter
Solar Orbiter (SolO) (2018) Stars-AO (2018) TESS (2018) ILO-1 (2019) iWF-MAXI (2019) Public Telescope
Telescope (PST) (2019) Spektr-RG
Spektr-RG (2019) Astro-1 Telescope
Telescope (2020) Euclid (2020) James Webb (JWST) (2020) Nano-JASMINE (2020) ORBIS (2020) IXPE (2021) Spektr-UV
Spektr-UV (2021) SVOM (2021) XARM (2021) Space Solar Telescope Xuntian (2022) K-EUSO (2023) Solar-C (2023) WFIRST (2025+) PLATO (2026) Spektr-M (2026+) ARIEL (2028) ATHENA (2028) LISA (2034)

Proposed

AstroSat-2 ATLAST EXCEDE Fresnel Imager FINESSE FOCAL HabEx HDST Hibari Hypertelescope JEM-EUSO LiteBIRD LUVOIR Lynx NEOCam New Worlds Mission NRO donation to NASA OST PhoENiX Small-JASMINE Sentinel Solar-D SPICA THEIA

Retired

Akari (Astro-F) (2006–11) ALEXIS (1993–2005) ATM (1973–74) ASCA (Astro-D) (1993–2000) Astro-1 (BBXRT HUT) (1990) Astro-2 (HUT) (1995) Astron (1983–89) ANS (1974–76) BeppoSAX
BeppoSAX (1996–2003) CHIPSat
CHIPSat (2003–08) Compton (CGRO) (1991–2000) CoRoT
CoRoT (2006–13) Cos-B
Cos-B (1975–82) COBE (1989–93) EPOCh (2008) EPOXI
EPOXI (2010) EXOSAT
EXOSAT (1983–86) EUVE (1992–2001) FUSE (1999–2007) Kvant-1
Kvant-1 (1987–2001) GALEX
GALEX (2003–13) Gamma (1990–92) Ginga (Astro-C) (1987–91) Granat
Granat (1989–98) Hakucho
Hakucho (CORSA-ｂ) (1979–85) HALCA (MUSES-B) (1997–2005) HEAO-1 (1977–79) Herschel (2009–13) Hinotori (Astro-A) (1981–91) HEAO-2 (Einstein Obs.) (1978–82) HEAO-3 (1979–81) HETE-2 (2000–07?) Hipparcos
Hipparcos (1989–93) IUE (1978–96) IRAS
IRAS (1983) IRTS (1995–96) ISO (1996–98) IXAE (1996–2004) Kristall
Kristall (1990–2001) LEGRI (1997–2002) LISA Pathfinder
LISA Pathfinder (2015–17) MSX (1996–97) OAO-2 (1968–73) OAO-3 (Copernicus) (1972–81) Orion 1/2 (1971/1973) PAMELA (2006–16) Planck (2009–13) RELIKT-1
RELIKT-1 (1983–84) ROSAT
ROSAT (1990–99) RXTE (1995–2012) SAMPEX (1992–2004) SAS-B (1972–73) SAS-C (1975–79) Suzaku (Astro-EII) (2005–15) Taiyo (SRATS) (1975-80) Tenma
Tenma (Astro-B) (1983–1985) Uhuru (1970–73) WMAP (2001–10) WISE (first mission: 2009–11) Yokoh (Solar-A) (1991–2001)

Hibernating (Mission completed)

SWAS (1998–2005) TRACE
TRACE (1998–2010)

Lost

OAO-1/OAO-B (1966/1970) CORSA (1976) ABRIXAS
ABRIXAS (1999) HETE (1996) WIRE (1999) Astro-E
Astro-E (2000) Tsubame (2014–) Hitomi (Astro-H) (2016)

Cancelled

Astro-G Constellation-X Darwin Destiny EChO Eddington FAME GEMS IXO JDEM LOFT SIM & SIMlite SNAP TAUVEX TPF XEUS XIPE