The Spitzer Space Telescope (formerly SIRTF, the Space Infrared Telescope Facility) was launched into space by a Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida on 25 August 2003. During its mission, Spitzer obtained images and spectra by detecting the infrared energy, or heat, radiated by objects in space between wavelengths of 3 and 180 microns (1 micron is one-millionth of a meter). Most of this infrared radiation is blocked by the Earth’s atmosphere and cannot be observed from the ground. The podcasts below discuss the telescope’s various findings and discoveries.

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Homes Away From Home? Revisiting the Seven Planets of TRAPPIST-1

22 Feb 2018 at 12:00am
One year ago, astronomers announced the discovery that seven roughly Earth-sized worlds orbited around the nearby star TRAPPIST-1. Now a year later, additional data have refined our understanding of these planets.We now know more about the TRAPPIST-1 system than any other solar system other than ... Read more...

Improving Brown Dwarf Weather Forecasts

17 Aug 2017 at 12:00am
This artist's concept animation shows a brown dwarf with bands of clouds, thought to resemble those seen on Neptune and the other outer planets in the solar system. Read more...

5000 Days in the Life of an Astronomy Robot

3 May 2017 at 12:00am
May 3rd, 2017 marks the 5,000th day of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope mission. This video gives us a detailed look at six of these days, showing how an automated observatory like Spitzer, which is effectively an astronomy robot, spends its time. It’s overall mission design allows for an unprecede... Read more...

Spitzer Beyond

26 Aug 2016 at 12:00am
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, which launched Aug. 25, 2003, will begin an extended mission—the “Beyond” phase—on Oct. 1, 2016. Read more...

The Wild Temperature Swings of an Exoplanet

28 Mar 2016 at 12:00am
The exoplanet HD80606 b spends most of its time far from its star, but every 111 days it swings in feverishly close. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope measured the planet's extreme temperature swings using infrared light. This allowed astronomers to simulate its atmosphere. Read more...

Catching a GLIMPSE of the Milky Way

20 Mar 2014 at 5:00am
Welcome home! This is our Milky Way galaxy as you’ve never seen it before. Ten years in the making, this is the clearest infrared panorama of our galactic home ever made, courtesy of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Read more...

10 Years of Innovation

23 Aug 2013 at 12:00am
On August 25, 2003, NASA launched the Spitzer Space Telescope to reveal secrets of the infrared universe. Read more...

Possible Nearby Exoplanet Smaller than Earth (Update)

7 Aug 2012 at 12:00am
Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have detected what they believe is an alien world just two-thirds the size of Earth - one of the smallest on record! Read more...

Cygnus X Marks the Spot (Gallery Explorer)

21 May 2012 at 12:00am
Over the last half century this Cygnus X has been yielding its secrets to the scrutiny of infrared observations. NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has now provided the best view yet of what we now know is one of the largest single areas of star formation in our Milky Way galaxy. Read more...

The Galactic Center Revisited (Hidden Universe Gallery Explorer)

23 Aug 2011 at 12:00am
Hiding behind the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius is the center of our own Milky Way galaxy, over 25,000 light years away. This patch of sky is mostly dark in visible light, shrouded by dust clouds that lie between us and the Galactic center. But the infrared vision of NASA’s Spitzer Spac... Read more...