NASA's newly named Spitzer Space Telescope has captured dazzling images of a dusty, spiral galaxy; a glowing, stellar nursery and a young, buried star, demonstrating the power of its infrared eyes to spy hidden objects.
The dusty, star-studded arms of M81, a nearby spiral galaxy similar to our own, are illuminated in unprecedented detail. The image reveals Spitzer's ability to explore regions invisible in optical light.
Resembling a flaming creature on the run, this image exposes the hidden interior of a dark and dusty cloud in the emission nebula IC 1396. Young stars previously obscured by dust can be seen here for the first time.
This Spitzer image transforms a dark cloud into a silky translucent veil, revealing the stellar winds from an otherwise hidden newborn star called HH46-IR. Spitzer's remarkable capacity to peer through cosmic dust allowed it to unveil this never-before-seen star.
Launched in August 2003 as the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), Spitzer was renamed in honor of Dr. Lyman Spitzer, Jr, the first to propose placing telescopes in space.
Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-CaltechNote: Click on the photos for high-resolution images.
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