01 September 2007
NASA/JPL-Caltech/ J. Hora (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA)
Celebrating the 4th anniversary of the launch of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (SST), the Spitzer website recently published a new image of the Helix Nebula, the spectacular colorful remains of a dead Sun-like star.
The Helix Nebula is one of the most beautiful cosmic sights. Lying at a distance of about 650 light years, it is actually one of the nearest deep sky splendors.
Deploying its sophisticated infrared sensors, SST mapped the outer regions of the 6-light-year-wide nebula, and peered into the heart of the Helix, around the central dead star, to reveal a probable planetary system that endured the star's chaotic end throes.
SST is the largest space infrared observatory. The 950-kg spacecraft was launched into an orbit around the Sun on 25 August 2003, aboard a powerful Delta rocket, from Cape Canaveral, Florida. SST consists of a 0.85-m telescope and three science instruments. It is the final of NASA's four space-based Great Observatories.
In its four years of exploring the infrared Universe, Spitzer has captured unprecedented infrared views of an incredible variety of cosmic objects, ranging from minor planets in our own Solar System to galaxies loaming at the edge of the visible Universe.
Recent SST discoveries include the first detection of water vapor on a planet orbiting another star and a tremendous collision of galaxies five billion light-years away.
"With Spitzer, we have achieved scientific discoveries far beyond our wildest expectations," said Michael Werner, project scientist for Spitzer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). "A large part of our success is due to the smooth and efficient operations of the spacecraft."
Initially, Spitzer was scheduled to operate for 2.5 years, but the spacecraft performed superbly, and the mission was extended to achieve the ultimate goal of 5 years of operation.
Further Reading
SST
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/spitzer/index.shtml
NASA's Great Observatories
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/about/greatobs.shtml
Aymen Mohamed Ibrahem
Senior Astronomy Specialist