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| This composite image made available by NASA shows the spider part of 'The Spider and the Fly' nebulae, IC 417, where many stars are formed, captured in infrared by the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS). Located in the constellation Auriga, it is about 10,000 light-years away from Earth in the outer part of the Milky Way, almost exactly in the opposite direction from the galactic center. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP) |
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| This composite image made available by NASA shows the galaxy NGC 4258, also known as M106, about 23 million light-years away from Earth. Two extra spiral arms glow in X-ray, optical, and radio light. These anomalous arms are not aligned with the plane of the galaxy. The data was captured by the NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, the National Science Foundation's Karl Jansky Very Large Array, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope. (NASA/CXC/JPL-Caltech/STScI/NSF/NRAO/VLA via AP) |
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| This image made available by NASA shows the Cat's Paw Nebula inside the Milky Way Galaxy located in the constellation Scorpius, captured by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Its distance from Earth is estimated to be between 1.3 kiloparsecs (about 4,200 light years) to 1.7 kiloparsecs (about 5,500 light years). The bright, cloudlike band running left to right across the image shows the presence of gas and dust that can collapse to form new stars. The black filaments running through the nebula are particularly dense regions of gas and dust. The entire star-forming region is thought to be between 24 and 27 parsecs (80-90 light years) across. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP) |
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| This composite image made available by NASA shows the extremely massive young galaxy cluster IDCS J1426.5+3508 captured by the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope. This rare galaxy cluster, which is located 10 billion light-years from Earth, is almost as massive as 500 trillion suns. (NASA/CXC/Univ of Missouri/M.Brodwin et al; NASA/STScI; JPL/CalTech via AP) |
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| This image made available by NASA shows the runaway star Kappa Cassiopeiae, or HD 2905, center, and its bow shock formed when the magnetic fields and wind of particles flowing off the star collide with the diffuse, and usually invisible, gas and dust that fill the space between stars as it travels. It was captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope. The wave is about 4 light-years ahead of Kappa Cassiopeiae, about the same distance that Earth is from Proxima Centauri, the nearest star beyond the sun. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP) |
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| This composite image made available by NASA shows the cluster NGC 2024, which is found in the center of the Flame Nebula about 1,400 light years from Earth. Stars are often born in clusters or groups, in giant clouds of gas and dust. Data was collected by the Chandra X-ray Observatory and Spitzer Space Telescope. (X-ray: NASA/CXC/PSU/K.Getman, E.Feigelson, M.Kuhn & the MYStIX team; Infrared:NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP) |
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| This composite image made available by NASA shows the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy in infrared light as seen by the Herschel Space Observatory, a European Space Agency-led mission, and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. In the instruments' combined data, this nearby dwarf galaxy has giant ripples of dust spanning tens or hundreds of light-years. (ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech/STScI via AP) |
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| This image made available by NASA shows the Perseus Molecular Cloud, a collection of gas and dust over 500 light-years across, hosting an abundance of young stars, captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP) |
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| This combination of photos made available by NASA shows the spiral galaxy Messier 81 (M81) viewed in two different types of infrared wavelengths showing the the light from the stars in the galaxy, left, and the distribution of dust particles without starlight, captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope. The dust particles are composed of silicates (chemically similar to beach sand), carbonaceous grains and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and trace the gas distribution in the galaxy. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP) |
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| This image made available by NASA shows infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) in an area known as the W3 and W5 star-forming regions within the Milky Way Galaxy. The stringy, seaweed-like filaments are the blown out remnants of a star that exploded in a supernova. The billowy clouds seen in pink are sites of massive star formation. Clusters of massive stars can be seen lighting up the clouds, and a bubble carved out from massive stars is seen near the bottom. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Wisconsin via AP) |
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| This image made available by NASA shows fledgling stars hidden in the gas and clouds of the Orion nebula, captured by infrared observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope and the European Space Agency's Herschel mission. In several hundred thousand years, some of the forming stars will accrete enough material to trigger nuclear fusion at their cores. (ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech/N. Billot (IRAM) via AP) |
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| This composite image made available by NASA shows a neutron star, center, left behind by the explosion from the original star's death in the constellation Taurus, observed on Earth as the supernova of A.D. 1054. This image uses data from three of NASA's observatories: the Chandra X-ray image is shown in blue, the Hubble Space Telescope optical image is in red and yellow, and the Spitzer Space Telescope's infrared image is in purple. After nearly two decades in Earth orbit, scanning the universe with infrared eyes, ground controllers plan to put the faltering Spitzer Space Telescope into permanent hibernation on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2020. (X-Ray: NASA/CXC/J.Hester (ASU); Optical: NASA/ESA/J.Hester & A.Loll (ASU); Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R.Gehrz (Univ. Minn.) via AP) |
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| This image made available by NASA shows an active stellar nursery containing thousands of young stars and developing protostars, near the sword of the constellation Orion, captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Megeath (University of Toledo, Ohio) via AP) |
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| An undated handout photo made available by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shows an artist's rendering of a nearly invisible ring around Saturn, the largest of the giant planet's many rings, which was discovered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (issued 01 February 2020). The artist's conception simulates an infrared view of the giant ring. The inset shows an enlarged image of Saturn. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope on 30 January 2020 transmitted its final science and engineering data to mission control and commanded off, ending its mission. Spitzer has spent over 16 years helping astronomers explore the infrared universe. EPA/NASA/JPL-CALTECH HANDOUT |
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| An undated handout photo made available by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shows an artist's rendering of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope in space much as it would appear to an observer at the end of its mission on 30 January 2020 (issued 01 February 2020). NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope on 30 January 2020 transmitted its final science and engineering data to mission control and commanded off, ending its mission. Spitzer has spent over 16 years helping astronomers explore the infrared universe. EPA/NASA/JPL-CALTECH HANDOUT |
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| A handout photo made available by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shows Spitzer Project Manager Joseph Hunt (C, back) standing in Mission Control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, USA, 30 January 2020 (issued 01 February 2020), declaring the spacecraft decommissioned and the Spitzer mission concluded. EPA/NASA/JPL-CALTECH HANDOUT |
