Spitzer Telescope



The Spitzer Telescope is just one part of NASA’s push to launch as many space telescopes into space in order to obtain as many pictures of galaxies, stars, constellations, and planets as possible.

Launched in 2003. It follows a rather unusual orbit which is heliocentric instead of geocentric, following Earth in its orbit, and drifting away from Earth at approximately 0.1 astronomical unit per year (a so-called "earth-trailing" orbit).

The primary mirror of the Spitzer Telescope is 85 cm in diameter, f/12 (i. e. the focal length is 12 times the diameter of the primary mirror) and made of beryllium.

The satellite contains three instruments that will allow it to take pictures as well as photometry from 3 to 180 micrometers, spectroscopy from 5 to 40 micrometers, and spectrophotometry from 5 to 100 micrometers.

So what does this mean to us?

Basically, it means that it can take pictures at a higher clarity than any other space telescope including the Hubble. That makes it one of the most promising space telescopes to ever be launched.

The pictures that it can provide may well be some of the most amazing images that we might see. When we have telescopes in space, we are able to get up close, personal pictures of the galaxies from a vantage point that we could never have here on Earth.

Spitzer Telescope Image

The Spitzer Space Telescope can provide scientists and researchers with pictures that will help us gain new knowledge about the cosmos and space in general.

It is the only one of the great space observatories that was not launched by a space shuttle. It was originally intended to be launched by the space shuttle, but like the Hubble space telescope, its launch was delayed by the Challenge disaster which shut down NASA’s space shuttle program for nearly two years.

Now that it is up in space, it is providing amazing pictures of the cosmos that have previously only been seen before by the Hubble telescope. Being right in the middle of deep space, it is able to obtain pictures that have not been realized by any other space telescope making the Spitzer one of a kind.

So what do pictures of space like those taken by the Spitzer space telescope tell us?

They can show us new galaxies, new constellations, new stars, and even new planets. In fact, thanks to the Spitzer scope, the planet Pluto has been 'undeclared' a planet, ruining every acronym for remembering the planets in the solar system for everyone.



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