Yesterday we aired the NASA celebration of the life and science of the Spitzer Space Telescope. This infrared observatory was one of NASA’s original great observatories, and across multiple phases, it has brought us images of the sky that we can’t get from Earth, since our atmosphere blocks the color of light that Spitzer is able to see. While the spacecraft is still healthy, the mission will be shut down on January 30. This frees up budget and resources for the forthcoming James Webb Space Telescope. When launched, hopefully next year, this future telescope will work in the same wavelengths of light as Spitzer, and will be able to see the same things, only better, with higher resolutions and better light gathering abilities. Until JWST is fully functional, we will have no capabilities to get new infrared observations. Spitzer is in a solar orbit, separate from the Earth, and will still be out there, trailing ever farther behind the Earth in silence.

We will miss Spitzer, and this is a reminder of just how many resources being sunk into JWST, and how bad things will be if that mission fails. Until it launches and returns healthy images, I think astronomers will all periodically find their hearts pounding or the breath getting held as they think about all the things that need to go write for JWST to work.

We’ll miss you Spitzer. So long and thanks for all the science. 

NASA Celebrates the Legacy of the Spitzer Space Telescope (NASA)