NASA's Spitzer Sees the Cosmos Through 'Warm' Infrared Eyes

Whitney Clavin 818-354-4673
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
whitney.clavin@jpl.nasa.gov

J.D. Harrington 202-358-5241
Headquarters, Washington
j.d.harrington@nasa.gov

News release: 2009-116 Aug. 5, 2009

NASA's Spitzer Sees the Cosmos Through 'Warm' Infrared Eyes

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope is starting a second career and
taking its first shots of the cosmos since warming up.

The infrared telescope ran out of coolant May 15, 2009, more than five-and-a-half-years
after launch. It has since warmed to a still-frosty 30 degrees Kelvin (about minus 406
degrees Fahrenheit).

New images taken with two of Spitzer's infrared detector channels -- two that work at the
new, warmer temperature -- demonstrate the observatory remains a powerful tool for
probing the dusty universe. The images show a bustling star-forming region, the remains
of a star similar to the sun, and a swirling galaxy lined with stars.

"The performance of the two short wavelength channels of Spitzer's infrared array camera
is essentially unchanged from what it was before the observatory's liquid helium was
exhausted," said Doug Hudgins, the Spitzer program scientist at NASA Headquarters in
Washington. "To put that in perspective, that means Spitzer's sensitivity at those
wavelengths is still roughly the same as a 30-meter ground-based telescope. These
breathtaking images demonstrate Spitzer will continue to deliver world-class imagery and
science during its warm mission."

The first of three images shows a cloud bursting with stars in the Cygnus region of our
Milky Way galaxy. Spitzer's infrared eyes peer through and see dust, revealing young
stars tucked in dusty nests. A second image shows a nearby dying star -- a planetary
nebula called NGC 4361 -- which has outer layers that expand outward in the rare form
of four jets. The last picture is of a classic spiral galaxy called NGC 4145, located
approximately 68 million light-years from Earth.

"With Spitzer's remaining shorter-wavelength bands, we can continue to see through the
dust in galaxies and get a better look at the overall populations of stars," said Robert
Hurt, imaging specialist for Spitzer at NASA's Spitzer Science Center at the California
Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "All stars are equal in the infrared."

Since its launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Aug. 25, 2003, Spitzer has made many
discoveries. They include planet-forming disks around stars, the composition of the
material making up comets, hidden black holes, galaxies billions of light-years away and
more.

Perhaps the most revolutionary and surprising Spitzer finds involve planets around other
stars, called exoplanets. In 2005, Spitzer detected the first photons of light from an
exoplanet. In a clever technique, now referred to as the secondary-eclipse method, Spitzer
was able to collect the light of a hot, gaseous exoplanet and learn about its temperature.
Later detailed studies revealed more about the composition and structure of the
atmospheres of these exotic worlds.

Warm Spitzer will address many of the same science questions as before. It also will
tackle new projects, such as refining estimates of Hubble's constant, or the rate at which
our universe is stretching apart; searching for galaxies at the edge of the universe;
characterizing more than 700 near-Earth objects, or asteroids and comets with orbits that
pass close to our planet; and studying the atmospheres of giant gas planets expected to be
discovered soon by NASA's Kepler mission.

As during the cold Spitzer mission, these and the other programs are selected by a
competition in which scientists from around the world are invited to participate.

Spitzer officially began its warm science mission on July 27, 2009. The new pictures were
taken while the telescope was being re-commissioned on July 18 (NGC 4145, NGC 4361)
and July 21 (Cygnus).

JPL manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate in Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science
Center at the California Institute of Technology.

For more information about Spitzer, visit http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/spitzer and
http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer .

-end-

To remove yourself from this mailing, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=dhJNLZOyFfKQL7I&s=jjL0L4NJKfKMK3PPJtG&m=lmIZKfNYJoKaE

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=gkLTI8PKIiJXJhL&s=jjL0L4NJKfKMK3PPJtG&m=lmIZKfNYJoKaE