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Spitzer Space Telescope

Spitzer Space Telescope

NASA’s Infrared Great Observatory

Visit Mission Website
Spitzer Foreground

Mission Statistics

Launch Date

Aug. 25, 2003

Type

Orbiter

Target

Stars and Galaxies

Status

Past

About the mission

The Spitzer Space Telescope, launched in 2003, was NASA’s Infrared Great Observatory. Among many other accomplishments in its 16 years of operation, Spitzer discovered a giant ring of Saturn, revealed a system of seven Earth-size planets around a star 40 light-years away, and studied the most distant known galaxies.

In 2009, Spitzer ran out of liquid coolant and began its "warm mission," refocusing its studies on determining how quickly our universe is stretching apart, and characterizing asteroids and the atmospheres of gas-giant planets.

Spitzer operated in its warm mission for over a decade, or about twice the length of its primary mission. On Jan. 30, 2020, engineers decommissioned the spacecraft, bringing the Spitzer mission to a close. It's science legacy lives on via the Spitzer Data Archive.

Instruments

  • Infrared Array Camera (IRAC)
  • Infrared Spectrograph (IRS)
  • Multiband Imaging Photometer (MIPS)

Interactive 3D model of Spitzer. View the full interactive experience at Eyes on the Solar System.

More about Stars and Galaxies

News .

NASA’s Chandra, Webb Telescopes Combine for Arresting Views

News .

NASA’s Spitzer, TESS Find Potentially Volcano-Covered Earth-Size World

News .

NASA’s Webb Takes Closest Look Yet at Mysterious Planet

News .

Caught in the Act: Astronomers Detect a Star Devouring a Planet

Video .

What's Up - May 2023

News .

NASA’s Voyager Will Do More Science With New Power Strategy

News .

NASA Study Helps Explain Limit-Breaking Ultra-Luminous X-Ray Sources

Image .

Magnetic Fields Around an Ultraluminous X-ray Source (Illustration)

Video .

What's Up - April 2023

News .

NASA’s Webb Telescope Captures Rarely Seen Prelude to Supernova

Spitzer Media Toolkit
Mission Website
Spitzer on Facebook
Spitzer on Twitter
See Spitzer in Real Time Through NASA's Eyes
NASA Pays Tribute, Says Goodbye to One of Agency’s Great Observatories
15 of Spitzer’s Greatest Discoveries
NASA's Spitzer Telescope Celebrates 10 Years in Space
NASA's Spitzer Begins Warm Mission

Explore Other Missions

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Disturbance Reduction System

Infrared Astronomical Satellite

ASTHROS

Keck Interferometer

Euclid

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