The Best Infrared Pics From The Late Spitzer Space Telescope

The Spitzer Space Telescope has been sending Earth amazing photos of space since 2003, but on January 30, 2020, NASA will say goodbye to the hardworking telescope. The Spitzer is the size of a school bus and uses infrared to see space in a way that the human eye can't see it. Since space is cold (really cold), infrared is a particularly useful tool to use because it picks up the smallest variations in heat.

Spitzer has helped scientists and astronomers to understand galaxies better, helping them see the hidden activity inside space clouds, as well as detecting the exoplanets in the Trappist 1 star system. But after 17 years of service, it's time for Spitzer to rest. It has been low on coolant fuel for years, and as it's drifting further away from Earth, it's not easy to reach anymore. In memory of the Spitzer Space Telescope, let's go over some of it's most incredible infrared photographs.

This article first appeared on Wired.

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This is the legend in the flesh (or um...metal). The Spitzer Space Telescope will be sorely missed for it's contributions to science and astronomy. The machine can operate at an unbelievable -400 degrees Fahrenheit!

Via Wired
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This is a stellar nursery known as the Perseus molecular cloud. Molecular clouds contain the perfect conditions to form molecules, especially molecular hydrogen, which is the main ingredient for creating new stars. We wouldn't be able to see this 500 light-year-wide cloud without the infrared capabilities of Spitzer.

Via Wired
This is M82, the "cigar galaxy", and it's 12 million light years away from Earth. This incredible photo was made by both the Spitzer and SOFIA, another NASA infrared telescope. The red near the center of the galaxy is hydrdogen gas, the yellow is dust, the grey is visible starlight, and the waves are magnetic field lines - all of which we wouldn't have been able to see without the two infrared telescopes.

Via Wired
This smattering of stars may look familiar to you: these are the stars at the center of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Without the Spitzer, this image would look very different (if you've ever looked up at night then you'll have an idea of what the Milky Way looks like with the naked eye). Infrared allows us to see the thick dust and gas that exists between us and the center of the Milky Way, blocking visible light. The bright spot in the center of the photo is the core of the galaxy, where our very own supermassive black hole sits.

Via Wired
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This is the Rho Ophiuchi dark cloud, which is composed mostly of molecular hydrogen (the fuel for new stars). The colors in this surreal photo show stars in different stages of growth, indicated by their heat levels. Hotter and therefore brighter stars are very young, while older stars are brighter blue and colder.

Via Wired
This is Spitzer's very first photo, taken of the Elephant's Trunk Nebula, which is a large stellar nursery. If we looked at this with our eyes, we wouldn't see anything but black space. But with Spitzer's infrared, we can see a whole group of baby stars that have just been formed. Aww.

Via Wired