From its construction, to its mission, to the things it discovered and more!
Join us as we tell you about the Spitzer Space Telescope History And Mission Overview!
When it comes to space, there's only so much that we can learn from where we are on Earth.
Thus, over the course of history, various astronomers have used things like telescopes
to try and learn about the solar system, our galaxy, other galaxies, and the universe in
general.
But, even with the most powerful of telescopes they are not able to go and scan and learn
everything they can.
So, with the invention of satellites and probes, NASA and other agencies made space telescopes
to go send into space to collect more data.
And one of the most famous ones that was "retired" recently was that of the Spitzer Space Telescope.
The Spitzer Space Telescope was the final mission in NASA's Great Observatories Program
- a family of four space-based observatories, each observing the Universe in a different
kind of light.
The other missions in the program included the visible-light Hubble Space Telescope (HST),
Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (CGRO), and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (CXO).
Spitzer specifically was an infrared space telescope launched in 2003 and retired on
January 30th, 2020.
Spitzer was designed to detect infrared radiation, which is primarily heat radiation.
It is comprised of two major components: The Cryogenic Telescope Assembly, which contains
the a 85 centimeter telescope and Spitzer's three scientific instruments.
The Spacecraft, which controls the telescope, provides power to the instruments, handles
the scientific data and communicates with Earth.
It may seem like a contradiction, but NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope had to be simultaneously
warm and cold to function properly.
Everything in the Cryogenic Telescope Assembly must be cooled to only a few degrees above
absolute zero (-459 degrees Fahrenheit, or -273 degrees Celsius).
This is achieved with an onboard tank of liquid helium, or cryogen.
Meanwhile, electronic equipment in The Spacecraft portion needed to operate near room temperature.
Spitzer's highly sensitive instruments allowed scientists to peer into cosmic regions that
are hidden from optical telescopes, including dusty stellar nurseries, the centers of galaxies,
and newly forming planetary systems.
Spitzer's infrared eyes also allowed astronomers to see cooler objects in space, like failed
stars (brown dwarfs), extrasolar planets, giant molecular clouds, and organic molecules
that may hold the secret to life on other planets.
So as you can see, this was a very important mission, and one that actually went on a lot
longer than it was originally intended to, much to the joy of those who studied its findings.
You see, Spitzer was originally built to last for a minimum of 2.5 years, but it lasted
in the cold phase for over 5.5 years.
On May 15th, 2009 the coolant was finally depleted and the Spitzer "warm mission" began.
Operating with 2 channels from one of its instruments called IRAC, Spitzer was able
to continue to operate until the year 2020 when it was finally retired by NASA.
Now, earlier we noted that the Spitzer had a set of three scientific instruments that
would allow it to scan space.
Let's detail those for you now.
First, was the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC)" An infrared camera which operates simultaneously
on four wavelengths (3.6 μm, 4.5 μm, 5.8 μm and 8 μm).
Each module uses a 256×256-pixel detector—the short-wavelength pair use indium antimonide
technology, the long-wavelength pair use arsenic-doped silicon impurity band conduction technology.
The principal investigator is Giovanni Fazio of Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics;
the flight hardware was built by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
Second on the Spitzer satellite was the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS):
An infrared spectrometer with four sub-modules which operate at the wavelengths 5.3–14
μm (low resolution), 10–19.5 μm (high resolution), 14–40 μm (low resolution),
and 19–37 μm (high resolution).
Each module uses a 128×128-pixel detector—the short-wavelength pair use arsenic-doped silicon
blocked impurity band technology, the long-wavelength pair use antimony-doped silicon blocked impurity
band technology.[28] The principal investigator was James R. Houck of Cornell University;
the flight hardware was built by Ball Aerospace.
Finally, there was the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS):
Three detector arrays in the far-infrared (128 × 128 pixels at 24 μm, 32 × 32 pixels
at 70 μm, 2 × 20 pixels at 160 μm).
The 24 μm detector is identical to one of the IRS short-wavelength modules.
The 70 μm detector uses gallium-doped germanium technology, and the 160 μm detector also
uses gallium-doped germanium, but with mechanical stress added to each pixel to lower the bandgap
and extend sensitivity to this long-wavelength.[29] The principal investigator is George H. Rieke
of the University of Arizona; the flight hardware was built by Ball Aerospace.
Each of these tools were vital for the mission that it had, and brought forth a lot of information
about space.
But what kind of information exactly?
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The first images taken by Spitzer Space Telescope were designed to show off the abilities of
the telescope and showed a glowing stellar nursery; a big swirling, dusty galaxy; a disc
of planet-forming debris; and organic material in the distant universe.
Since then, many monthly press releases have highlighted Spitzer's capabilities, each with
their own unique photos and explanations of what have been found.
As one of its most noteworthy observations, in 2005, the Spitzer became the first telescope
to directly capture light from exoplanets, namely the "hot Jupiters" HD 209458 b and
TrES-1b, although it did not resolve that light into actual images to be clear.
This was the first time extrasolar planets had actually been visually seen; earlier observations
had been indirectly made by drawing conclusions from behaviors of the stars the planets were
orbiting.
The telescope also discovered in April 2005 that Cohen-kuhi Tau/4 had a planetary disk
that was vastly younger and contained less mass than previously theorized, leading to
new understandings of how planets are formed.
So just within the first two years of its mission, the Spitzer Space Telescope had already
radically changed how we thought about the universe and more specifically, helped us
fill in puzzle pieces if you will about how planets are made.
And this was just one of many revelations and results that the telescope made.
Would you like to hear more of them?
In 2004, it was reported that Spitzer had spotted a faintly glowing body that may be
the youngest star ever seen.
The telescope was trained on a core of gas and dust known as L1014 which had previously
appeared completely dark to ground-based observatories and to ISO (Infrared Space Observatory), a
predecessor to Spitzer.
The advanced technology of Spitzer revealed a bright red hot spot in the middle of L1014.
Scientists from the University of Texas at Austin, who discovered the object, believed
the hot spot to be an example of early star development, with the young star collecting
gas and dust from the cloud around it.
Early speculation about the hot spot was that it might have been the faint light of another
core that lies 10 times further from Earth but along the same line of sight as L1014.
Follow-up observation from ground-based near-infrared observatories detected a faint fan-shaped
glow in the same location as the object found by Spitzer.
That glow is too feeble to have come from the more distant core, leading to the conclusion
that the object is located within L1014.
Heading back to 2005, astronomers from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Whitewater
determined, on the basis of 400 hours of observation on the Spitzer Space Telescope, that the Milky
Way galaxy has a more substantial bar structure across its core than previously recognized.
Which is important as the shape of the universe and galaxies in general are a major thing
in astronomy.
As not all galaxies are shaped the way we believe them to be, and how they fill up the
universe as a whole is something debated quite often.
Also in 2005, astronomers Alexander Kashlinsky and John Mather of NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center reported that one of Spitzer's earliest images may have captured the light of the
first stars in the universe!
Think about that for a second.
It didn't capture the light of any star, but possibly some of the first stars to EVER be
made in the universe as a whole.
An image of a quasar in the Draco constellation, intended only to help calibrate the telescope,
was found to contain an infrared glow after the light of known objects was removed.
Kashlinsky and Mather are convinced that the numerous blobs in this glow are the light
of stars that formed as early as 100 million years after the Big Bang, redshifted by cosmic
expansion.
While this wasn't definitively proven, it's still something that proves how valuable this
satellite was.
Because a simple test about refining the telescope lead to a discover that could truly help define
the timeline of the universe in certain aspects.
That's very impressive, don't you think?
In March 2006, astronomers reported an 80-light-year long (25 pc) nebula near the center of the
Milky Way Galaxy, the Double Helix Nebula, which is, as the name implies, twisted into
a double spiral shape.
This is thought to be evidence of massive magnetic fields generated by the gas disc
orbiting the supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center, 300 light-years (92 pc) from
the nebula and 25,000 light-years (7,700 pc) from Earth.
This nebula was discovered by Spitzer and published in the magazine Nature in March
2006.
In May 2007, astronomers successfully mapped the atmospheric temperature of HD 189733 b,
thus obtaining the first map of some kind of an extrasolar planet.
In addition, the study revealed that roaring winds likely whip through the planet's atmosphere.
This image shows an artist's impression of the planet.
Heading now to the back half of Spitzer's life, observations revealed in May 2011 indicate
that tiny forsterite crystals might be falling down like rain on to the protostar HOPS-68.
The discovery of the forsterite crystals in the outer collapsing cloud of the protostar
is surprising because the crystals form at lava-like high temperatures, yet they are
found in the molecular cloud where the temperatures are about −170 °C (103 K; −274 °F).
This led the team of astronomers to speculate that the bipolar outflow from the young star
may be transporting the forsterite crystals from near the star's surface to the chilly
outer cloud.
In April 2015, Spitzer and the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment were reported as co-discovering
one of the most distant planets ever identified: a gas giant about 13,000 light-years (4,000
pc) away from Earth.
In June and July 2015, the brown dwarf OGLE-2015-BLG-1319 was discovered using the gravitational microlensing
detection method in a joint effort between Swift, Spitzer, and the ground-based Optical
Gravitational Lensing Experiment, the first time two space telescopes have observed the
same microlensing event.
In March 2016, Spitzer and Hubble were used to discover the most distant-known galaxy,
GN-z11.
This object was seen as it appeared 13.4 billion years ago.
For the record, most speculate that the universe is about 13.8 billion years old.
So this was a galaxy that was around within a half billion years of the big bang.
But if you think these were all the discoveries of Spitzer, you're underestimating the team
behind the device.
Spitzer was also put to work studying exoplanets thanks to creatively tweaking its hardware.
This included doubling its stability by modifying its heating cycle, finding a new use for the
"peak-up" camera, and analyzing the sensor at a sub-pixel level.
Although in its "warm" mission, the spacecraft's passive cooling system kept the sensors at
29 K (−244 °C; −407 °F).[48] Spitzer can use the transit photometry and gravitational
microlensing techniques to perform these observations.[47] According to NASA's Sean Carey, "We never
even considered using Spitzer for studying exoplanets when it launched.
... It would have seemed ludicrous back then, but now it's an important part of what Spitzer
does."
One of the most famous things that it found was a set of 7 planets that were ALL Earth-sized,
and ALL orbiting a single star known as TRAPPIST-1.
This is the largest batch of Earth-size planets ever discovered in a single system, this amazing
planetary system has inspired scientists and non-scientists alike.
Three of the planets sit in the "habitable zone" around the star, where temperatures
might be right to support liquid water on a planet's surface.
The discovery represents a major step in the search for life beyond our Solar System.
Sadly, all good things must come to an end.
Where once it could transmit data continuously, it was only able to manage just two and a
half hours per day before its battery drain in the latter points of its life..
The telescope was retired on January 30th 2020 when NASA sent a shutdown signal to the
telescope from the Goldstone Deep Space Communication Complex (GDSCC) instructing the telescope
to go into safe mode.
After receiving confirmation that the command was successful, Spitzer Project Manager Joseph
Hunt officially declared that the mission had ended.
Still, in the roughly 17 years of its mission life, The Spitzer Space Telescope revealed
so much about the universe that we're still talking about to this day.
From helping mapping out the Milky Way galaxy, to teaching us more about how planets form,
to helping us find brand new planets, and more!
Even ONE of these discoveries would've been worth the "price of admission."
But so many in such a period of time?
That's remarkable.
And as such, the Spitzer Space Telescope should be praised as a triumph on many levels.
You almost have to pity the space telescopes that come after it because they have quite
the legacy to live up to.
Thanks for watching everyone!
What did you think of this look at the Spitzer Space Telescope and the mission that only
recently ended?
Were you surprised that the satellite not only lasted that long, but was able to give
that much data to scientists?
What do you think will be the next great telescope to get information about space?
Let me know in the comments below, be sure to subscribe, and I'll see you next time on
the channel!