Accessibility Links

Subscribe
  1. Home
  2. Astrophotography
  3. 10 years of the Spitzer Space Telescope

10 years of the Spitzer Space Telescope

On 25 August 2013, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope marked its tenth year in orbit.

The centre of our galaxy: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Published:

On 25 August 2013, NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope marked its tenth year in orbit.

Advertisement

In that time the revolutionary infrared observatory has beamed back hundreds of images of distant nebulae, galaxies and the farthest reaches of our own Milky Way.

Advertisement

See a selection of these amazing celestial sights in the gallery above.

Tags

Latest

What are stars? Credit: Eric Lowenbach / Getty Images

Astronomy explained What are stars?

Lyrid meteor seen above Schermbeck, Germany. Credit: Mario Hommes/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

Lyrids 2021 How to see this year's meteor shower

Save when you subscribe today!
Try 6 issues for £9.99 when you subscribe to BBC Sky at Night Magazine today!

You may also like

03 - David ATTIE - M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy
Astrophotography

Readers’ pics: galaxies

Although it looks like the pattern of a shell on the beach, this intriguing spiral is in fact astronomical in nature. The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) captured this remarkable image of a binary star system, where two stars — LL Pegasi and its companion — are locked in a stellar waltz, orbiting around their common centre of gravity. The old star LL Pegasi is continuously losing gaseous material as it evolves into a planetary nebula, and the distinct spiral shape is the imprint made by the stars orbiting in this gas. The spiral spans light-years and winds around with extraordinary regularity. Based on the expansion rate of the spiralling gas, astronomers estimate that a new “layer” appears every 800 years — approximately the same time it takes for the two stars to complete one orbit around each other. LL Pegasi was first highlighted about 10 years ago when the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope obtained a picture of the almost-perfect spiral structure. This was the first time a spiral pattern had been found in material surrounding an old star. Now, ALMA’s observations, of which this image only shows one “cross-section”, have added an extra dimension to reveal the exquisitely-ordered 3D geometry of the spiral pattern. A full view of the 3D video can be seen in this video. An additional image shows a composition of the ALMA and Hubble data. Links: ALMA and Hubble observe LL Pegasi 3D view of LL Pegasi
Astrophotography

Eye On The Sky: the top astro images of 2017

Andromeda Galaxy, Charles Thody, Pembrokeshire, 8 September 2015. Equipment: Modified Canon EOS 40D DSLR camera, Sky-Watcher Equinox-80 ED apo refractor, Sky-Watcher NEQ6 PRO SynScan mount.
Science

Readers’ images: top galaxy astrophotos

Galaxy NGC 1398, Very Large Telescope, 1 January 2018. Credit: ESO
Astrophotography

The best astro images of 2018