Infrared Ring Around Saturn
This diagram highlights a slice of Saturn's largest ring. The ring (red band in inset photo) was discovered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, which detected infrared light, or heat, from the dusty ring material. Spitzer viewed the ring edge-on from its Earth-trailing orbit around the sun.
Dissecting Dust from Detonation of Dead Star
This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows N103B -- all that remains from a supernova that exploded a millennium ago in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy 160,000 light-years away from our own Milky Way.
This artist's conception shows a young, hypothetical planet around a cool star. A soupy mix of potentially life-forming chemicals can be seen pooling around the base of the jagged rocks.
The Milky Way Galaxy (Annotated)
Like early explorers mapping the continents of our globe, astronomers are busy charting the spiral structure of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Using infrared images from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, scientists have discovered that the Milky Way's elegant spiral structure is dominated by just two...
Crab Nebula from Five Observatories
In the summer of the year 1054 AD, Chinese astronomers saw a new "guest star," that appeared six times brighter than Venus. So bright in fact, it could be seen during the daytime for several months.
Little Galaxy with a Tail
The infrared portrait of the Small Magellanic Cloud reveals the stars and dust in this galaxy as never seen before.
Milky Way Bar
This artist's rendering shows a view of our own Milky Way Galaxy and its central bar as it might appear if viewed from above.
Astronomers can detect the presence of disks of dust orbiting distant stars by measuring how the combined light from the star and disk changes across different wavelengths.
TRAPPIST-1 Planet Data - Feb. 2018
This chart shows, on the top row, artist concepts of the seven planets of TRAPPIST-1 with their orbital periods, distances from their star, radii, masses, densities and surface gravity as compared to those of Earth.
The Dusty Barred Sculptor Galaxy
The spectacular dusty swirling arms and central bar of the Sculptor galaxy are revealed in this new view from NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope.
This artist's concept shows what the very early universe might have looked like, just after its first stars began bursting onto the scene.
This artist's conception illustrates one of the most primitive supermassive black holes known (central black dot) at the core of a young, star-rich galaxy.
The (Almost) Invisible Aftermath of a Massive Star's Death
For the universe's biggest stars, even death is a show. In this Spitzer mid-infrared light image, a supernova remnant, invisible in companion visible and near-infrared images, is detected.
Cepheids as Cosmology Tools
This graph illustrates the Cepheid period-luminosity relationship, which scientists use to calculate the size, age and expansion rate of the universe. The data shown are from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, which has made the most precise measurements yet of the universe's expansion rate by...
Hubble, Spitzer and Chandra Image of Cassiopeia A
This stunning multi-mission picture shows off the many sides of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A. It is made up of images taken by three of NASA's Great Observatories, using three different wavebands of light. Infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope are colored red; visible data from the...
This diagram illustrates how astronomers can capture the elusive spectra of hot-Jupiter planets by comparing observations including light from both the star and planet to those containing just the star.
Composite view of the Antennae Galaxies
This composite color image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveals hidden populations of newborn stars at the heart of the colliding "Antennae" galaxies. These two galaxies, known individually as NGC 4038 and 4039, are located around 68 million light-years away and have been merging together...
30 Doradus and The Growing Tarantula Within
About 2,400 massive stars in the center of 30 Doradus are producing intense radiation and powerful winds as they blow off material.
Silicate Crystal Formation in the Disk of an Erupting Star
This artist's concept illustrates how silicate crystals like those found in comets can be created by an outburst from a growing star.
Cepheus C and Cepheus B (IRAC-MIPS Annotated)
This image was compiled using data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope using the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) and the Multiband Imaging Photometer (MIPS) during Spitzer's "cold" mission, before the spacecraft's liquid helium coolant ran out in 2009.
Carina Nebula
This false-color image taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the "South Pillar" region of the star-forming region called the Carina Nebula. Like cracking open a watermelon and finding its seeds, the infrared telescope "busted open" this murky cloud to reveal star embryos tucked inside...
The Cat's Paw Nebula MIPS & IRAC
The Cat's Paw Nebula, imaged here by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope using the MIPS and IRAC instruments, is a star-forming region that lies inside the Milky Way Galaxy. New stars may heat up the surrounding gas, which can expand to form "bubbles."
Emission from the White Dwarf System GD 16
This chart shows the brightness and wavelength of the radiation coming from white dwarf GD 16 and its associated disk of closely orbiting rocky material.
Stellar Nursery Sharpless 140
In the quest to better understand the birth of stars and the formation of new worlds, astronomers have used NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to examine the massive stars contained in a cloudy region called Sharpless 140. This cloud is a fascinating microcosm of a star-forming region since it...
Cygnus Star Forming Region DR22
This infrared picture shows a cloud, known as DR22, bursting with new stars in the Cygnus region of the sky. Spitzer's infrared eyes can both see through and see dust, giving it a unique view into star-forming nests. The blue areas are dusty clouds, and the orange is mainly hot gas.
The varying brightness of an exoplanet called 55 Cancri e is shown in this plot of infrared data captured by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
This artist's concept shows a newly discovered stream of ancient stars passing just over the head of the constellation Leo (on the right), before plunging through the heart of the Great Bear, or Big Dipper constellation (to the left).
Epsilon Eridani: Young Solar System in the Making (Unlabeled)
This artist's diagram compares the Epsilon Eridani system to our own solar system. The two systems are structured similarly, and both host asteroids (brown), comets (blue) and planets.
Spitzer Spies a Comet Coma and Tail
Don Quixote's coma and tail -- features of comets -- as revealed in infrared light by Spitzer. The coma appears as a faint glow around the center of the body, caused by dust and gas.
M82: Great Observatories Present Rainbow of a Galaxy
NASA's Spitzer, Hubble, and Chandra space observatories teamed up to create this multi-wavelength view of the M82 galaxy.
Artist's Conception of L1014
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has detected a faint, warm object inside the apparently starless core of a small, dense molecular cloud. If, as astronomers suspect, there is a young star deep inside the dusty core, it would have a structure similar to this illustration.
Protostellar Envelope and Jet: L1152
A young protostar and its signature outflow peeks out through a shroud of dust in this infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
Our solitary sunsets here on Earth might not be all that common in the grand scheme of things. New observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have revealed that mature planetary systems are more frequent around binary stars than single ones like our Sun.
A Twisted Dust Web in the Galaxy IC 342
Looking like a spiders web swirled into a spiral, the galaxy IC 342 presents its delicate pattern of dust in this image from NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope. In the infrared the faint starlight gives way to the glowing bright patterns of dust found throughout the galaxys disk.
The Whirlpool Galaxy in Visible and Infrared Light
This image shows the Whirlpool galaxy, also known as Messier 51 and NGC 5194/5195, which is actually a pair of galaxies. Located approximately 23 million light-years away, it resides in the constellation Canes Venatici. This image combines two visible light wavelengths (in blue and green) and...
Dense envelopes of gas and dust surround the fledging stars known as protostars, making their detection difficult until now. The discovery gives scientists a window into the earliest and least understood phases of star formation.
Stellar Families: Young Stars in Serpens
The Spitzer Space Telescope reveals embedded young stars in the Serpens South star cluster.
This illustration compares the size of a gargantuan star and its surrounding dusty disk (top) to that of our solar system.
Infrared Helix
The Helix Nebula, which is composed of gaseous shells and disks puffed out by a dying sunlike star, exhibits complex structure on the smallest visible scales. In this new image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, infrared light at wavelengths of 3.6, 4.5, and 8.0 microns has been colored blue,...
Witnessing a Planetary Wreckage
Astronomers were surprised to see these data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope in January 2013, showing a huge eruption of dust around a star called NGC 2547-ID8. In this plot, infrared brightness is represented on the vertical axis, and time on the horizontal axis.
Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have gathered the most detailed data yet on a gap in a protoplanetary, or planet-forming, disk surrounding a young star.
While searching the skies for black holes using the Spitzer Space Telescope Deep Wide Field Survey, Ohio State University astronomers discovered a giant supernova that was smothered in its own dust.
Planets Forming Around a Sun-like Star
This is an artist's rendition of the one-million-year-old star system called UX Tau A, located approximately 450 light-years away. Observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope showed a gap in the dusty planet-forming disk swirling around the system's central Sun-like star, most likely carved...
Spitzer Eyes the Bullet Cluster
This image shows two clusters of galaxies colliding with one another, the smaller one being known as the Bullet Cluster. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope obtained these observations during the telescope's warm mission phase, following the depletion of its liquid coolant in 2009.
Galaxy Cluster and Gravitational Lens MACS J1149+2223
With the combined power of NASA's Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes, as well as a cosmic magnification effect, astronomers have spotted what could be the most distant galaxy ever seen. Light from the primordial galaxy traveled approximately 13.2 billion light-years, shining forth from the...
Cassiopeia A Infrared Light Echo
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope imaged the region around the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A and surrounding clouds of dust. This picture, along with an image taken one year later, illustrate that a blast of light from Cassiopeia A is waltzing outward through through the dusty skies. This dance,...
The Distant Galaxy MACS 1149-JD
With the combined power of NASA's Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes, as well as a cosmic magnification effect, astronomers have spotted what could be the most distant galaxy ever seen. Light from the primordial galaxy traveled approximately 13.2 billion light-years, shining forth from the...
This illustration shows a cool star, called W1906+40, marked by a raging storm near one of its poles. The storm is thought to be similar to the Great Red Spot on Jupiter. Scientists discovered it using NASA's Kepler and Spitzer space telescopes.
Distant Galaxy Cluster
This distant galaxy cluster was discovered using data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
The Whirlpool Galaxy in Visible Light
This image shows the Whirlpool galaxy, also known as Messier 51 and NGC 5194/5195, which is actually a pair of galaxies. Located approximately 23 million light-years away, it resides in the constellation Canes Venatici. This image presents the galaxy's appearance in visible light, from the Kitt...
"Galactic Snake" in Infrared Milky Way Image
This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows what astronomers are referring to as a "snake" (upper left) and its surrounding stormy environment. The sinuous object is actually the core of a thick, sooty cloud large enough to swallow dozens of solar systems.
NGC 4579
Galaxy NGC 4579 was captured by the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxy Survey (SINGS) Legacy Project using the Spitzer Space Telescope's Infrared Array Camera (IRAC). In this image, the red structures are areas where gas and dust are thought to be forming new stars, while the blue light comes from...
Mapping the Densest Dusty Cloud Cores
Astronomers have found cosmic clumps so dark, dense and dusty that they throw the deepest shadows ever recorded. The clumps were discovered within a huge cosmic cloud of gas and dust.
Exoplanet is Extremely Hot and Incredibly Close (Artist's Concept)
Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have detected what they believe is an alien world just two-thirds the size of Earth one of the smallest on record. The exoplanet candidate, known as UCF-1.01, orbits a star called GJ 436, which is located a mere 33 light-years away. UCF-1.01 might...
Dissecting the Wake of a Supernova Explosion: Cassiopeia A
The elements and molecules that flew out of the Cassiopeia A star when it exploded about 300 years ago can be seen clearly for the first time in this plot of data, called a spectrum, taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
This artist's concept illustrates how planetary systems arise out of massive collisions between rocky bodies. New findings from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope show that these catastrophes continue to occur around stars even after they have developed full-sized planets, when they are as old as one...
Spitzer View of Kepler's Supernova Remnant - SN 1604
This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the expanding remains of a supernova, called Kepler's supernova remnant, first seen 400 years ago by sky watchers, including famous astronomer Johannes Kepler.
Embedded Outflow in HH 46/47
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has lifted the cosmic veil to see an otherwise hidden newborn star, while detecting the presence of water and carbon dioxide ices, as well as organic molecules. Using near-infrared light, Spitzer pierces through an optically dark cloud to detect the embedded outflow...
A Shocking Surprise in Stephan's Quintet
This false-color composite image of the Stephan's Quintet galaxy cluster clearly shows one of the largest shock waves ever seen (green arc), produced by one galaxy falling toward another at over a million miles per hour. It is made up of data from NASA's
Finding Faint Galaxies
When one galaxy wont do the trick, perhaps 20,000 will do. Stacking faint galaxies seen at 24 microns (left, blue) allows observers to securely detect "invisible" galaxies at 70 microns (middle, green) and 160 microns (right, red) which are not detected individually.
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