Artist's concept shows NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope

An artist's concept of the Spitzer Space Telescope. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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Key Points

Key Points

NASA will host a live program at 10 a.m. PST (1 p.m. EST) Wednesday, Jan. 22, to celebrate the far-reaching legacy of the agency's Spitzer Space Telescope – a mission that, after 16 years of amazing discoveries, soon will come to an end.

After 16 years of unveiling the infrared universe, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has left a singular legacy. As one of NASA’s four Great Observatories – a series of powerful telescopes including Hubble, Chandra and Compton that can observe the cosmos in different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum --Spitzer quickly became a pioneer in the exploration of the worlds beyond our human vision. From stars being born to planets beyond our solar system (like the seven Earth-size planets around the star TRAPPIST-1), Spitzer's science discoveries will continue to inspire the world for many years to come.

The event will air live on NASA Television, Facebook Live, Ustream, YouTube, Twitter and the agency's website.

Experts on the program will include NASA Director of Astrophysics Paul Hertz and, from the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Spitzer Project Scientist Mike Werner, astrophysicist Farisa Morales, current Mission Manager Joseph Hunt, and former Mission Manager Suzanne Dodd.

The public can ask questions on Twitter using the hashtag #askNASA or in the comment section of the NASA Facebook and YouTube pages.

One of NASA's four Great Observatories, Spitzer launched on Aug. 25, 2003, and has studied the cosmos in infrared light. Its breathtaking images have revealed the beauty of the infrared universe.

Spitzer made some of the first studies of exoplanet atmospheres (atmospheres of planets around stars other than our Sun). It confirmed two and discovered five ofthe seven Earth-size exoplanets around the star TRAPPIST-1 - the largest batch of terrestrial planets ever found around a single star. On Thursday, Jan. 30, engineers will decommission the Spitzer spacecraft and bring this amazing mission to a close.

JPL manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech in Pasadena, California. Space operations are based at Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive housed at IPAC at Caltech. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

For more information about Spitzer, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/spitzer

http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/