Have you heard of NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope Mission? If not, it is NASA’s Great Observatories Program, which is a family of four space-based observations. Each of them observes the Universe in a different kind of light.
Spitzer is designed to detect Heat Radiations which again are Infrared Radiations. The Spitzer consists of two major components – The Cryogenic Telescope Assembly and the Space Craft. The Cryogenic Telescope Assembly contains a 85cm Telescope and other three Scientific Instruments. The Spacecraft controls the Telescope and provides power to the instruments as well as handles the scientific data which is communicated with Earth.
The Visible-Light Hubble Space Telescope (HST), Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (CGRO) and Chandra X-Ray Observatory (CXO) are the other missions in the mission program. Spitzer’s original life span was expected to be 2.5 years but it lasted over 5.5 years in the Cold Phase. Spitzer Warm Mission began on 15 May 2009.
Read more about Spitzer Space Telescope Mission here
The latest from Spitzer Space Telescope Mission is the detection of Infant Stars in the NGC 2174 star-forming region, which is located about 6,400 light-years away in the Orion Constellation. NGC 2174 is also known as Monkey Head Nebula, which is filled with young stars embedded within bright wisps of Cosmic Gas and Dust.
Read about this finding by Spitzer at the Sci-News article here
