Spitzer Space Telescope

space telescope · infrared light · discoveries

Saw invisible light. Spitzer detected infrared radiation, which is heat energy that our eyes cannot see. This allowed it to peek through cosmic dust clouds and spot things other telescopes missed.

Had to stay cold. Spitzer used liquid helium to keep its instruments incredibly cold so they could pick up faint infrared signals from distant space.

Orbited behind Earth. Unlike most satellites, Spitzer followed a special path called an Earth-trailing orbit where it stayed behind our planet as both orbited the sun, keeping it safe from Earth's heat.

Revealed hidden galaxies. By seeing through dust clouds with infrared vision, Spitzer found galaxies and star-forming regions that visible light telescopes simply could not detect.

Hunted for exoplanets. Spitzer helped discover and study planets outside our solar system, measuring their temperatures and what gases floated in their atmospheres.