![]() feature09-12a 10.20.09 Exotic AtmospheresThe basic chemistry for life has been detected in a second hot gas planet, HD 209458b, depicted in this artist's conc... view image |
![]() ssc2009-19a 10.06.09 Infrared Ring Around SaturnThis diagram highlights a slice of Saturn's largest ring. The ring (red band in inset photo) was discovered by NASA's... view image |
![]() ssc2009-19c 10.06.09 Artist's Rendering of Saturn's Infrared RingThis artist's conception shows a nearly invisible ring around Saturn -- the largest of the giant planet's many rings.... view image |
![]() ssc2009-19b 10.06.09 The King of RingsThis diagram illustrates the extent of the largest ring around Saturn, discovered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. ... view image |
![]() ssc2009-16a 08.10.09 Planetary Demolition DerbyThis artist's animation shows a celestial body about the size of our moon slamming at great speed into a body the siz... view image |
![]() ssc2009-09b 04.07.09 Chemical Soups Around Cool StarsThis artist's conception shows a young, hypothetical planet around a cool star. A soupy mix of potentially life-formi... view image |
![]() ssc2008-19a 10.27.08 Epsilon Eridani: Double the RubbleThis artist's conception shows the closest known planetary system to our own, called Epsilon Eridani. Observations fr... view image |
![]() ssc2008-05a 02.17.08 Rocky, Terrestrial WorldsThis artist's concept illustrates the idea that rocky, terrestrial worlds like the inner planets in our Solar System ... view image |
![]() sig07-012 07.13.07 Sun and Earth in ScaleThis illustration shows the relative sizes of the Sun and the Earth by placing them impossibly close together. view image |
![]() sig07-011 07.13.07 The Spitzer Space Telescope SpectrumNASA's Spitzer Space Telescope is an infrared eye onto the universe. This diagram illustrates just where Spitzer's vi... view image |
![]() ssc2007-12c 07.11.07 Steaming Hot Planet in InfraredScientists have reported the first conclusive discovery of water vapor in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, or a planet... view image |
![]() ssc2007-12b 07.11.07 Steaming Hot PlanetScientists have reported the first conclusive discovery of water vapor in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, or a planet... view image |
![]() ssc2007-11b 05.30.07 Distance to Dark BodiesUsing the unique orbit of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and a depth-perceiving trick called parallax, astronomers ha... view image |
![]() ssc2007-11a 05.30.07 Depth Perception in SpaceThis artist's concept shows how astronomers use the unique orbit of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and a depth-percei... view image |
![]() ssc2007-09b 05.09.07 Blacker than BlackThis artist's concept illustrates the hottest planet yet observed in the Universe. The scorching ball of gas, a "hot ... view image |
![]() ssc2007-09a 05.09.07 First Map of an Alien WorldThis is the first-ever map of the surface of an exoplanet, or a planet beyond our solar system. The map, which shows ... view image |
![]() ssc2007-04e 02.21.07 Isolating a Planet's SpectrumThis diagram illustrates how astronomers can capture the elusive spectra of hot-Jupiter planets by comparing observat... view image |
![]() ssc2007-04d 02.21.07 Hot, Dry and Cloudy PlanetThis artist's concept shows a cloudy Jupiter-like planet that orbits very close to its fiery hot star. NASA's Spitzer... view image |
![]() sig07-001 01.09.07 Forecasting Weather on Distant WorldsAn artist's concept shows a gas-giant planet orbiting very close to its parent star, creating searingly hot condition... view image |
![]() ssc2007-02a 01.08.07 Gas Giants Form QuicklyThis is an artist's concept of a hypothetical 10-million-year-old star system. The bright blur at the center is a sta... view image |
![]() ssc2006-18b 10.12.06 Exotic World Blisters Under the SunThis artist's concept shows a Jupiter-like planet, called Upsilon Andromedae b, soaking up the scorching rays of its ... view image |
![]() sig06-022 09.18.06 Brown Dwarf CompanionThis is an artist's concept of the star HD 3651 as it is orbited by a close-in Saturn-mass planetary companion and th... view image |
![]() ssc2006-10c 04.05.06 Extreme PlanetsThis artist's concept depicts a planetary system discovered by Aleksander Wolszczan in 1992 around a pulsar. view image |
![]() sig05-018 08.07.05 Planet X: New Member of our Solar SystemThis artist's concept shows the planet catalogued as 2003UB313 at the lonely outer fringes of our solar system. The n... view image |
![]() ssc2005-14d 06.09.05 Illustration of a Light EchoAcross the vast distances of space, light can 'echo' off of distant dust clouds in much the same way that sound can e... view image |
![]() ssc2005-10b 04.20.05 Alien Asteroid Belt Compared to our OwnThis artist's concept illustrates what the night sky might look like from a hypothetical alien planet in a star syste... view image |
![]() ssc2005-09b 03.22.05 Blinded by the LightThis artist's concept shows what a fiery hot star and its close-knit planetary companion might look close up if viewe... view image |
![]() ssc2005-01b 01.10.05 Massive Smash-Up at VegaThis artist concept illustrates how a massive collision of objects, perhaps as large as the planet Pluto, smashed tog... view image |
![]() ssc2004-22e 12.09.04 The View from Within AU Microscopii's DiskThis is an artist's impression of the view from the vicinity of a hypothetical terrestrial planet and moon orbiting t... view image |
![]() ssc2004-20d 11.09.04 Observing Young Stars: Hitting the 'Sweet Spot'What does an extremely young planetary system look like? The answer depends on your point of view. This diagram shows... view image |
![]() ssc2004-17a 10.18.04 The Rocky World of Young Planetary Systems (Annotated)This artist's concept illustrates how planetary systems arise out of massive collisions between rocky bodies. New fin... view image |
![]() ssc2004-17a2 10.18.04 The Rocky World of Young Planetary SystemsThis artist's concept illustrates how planetary systems arise out of massive collisions between rocky bodies. New fin... view image |
![]() ssc2004-08d 05.27.04 Out of the Dust, A Planet is BornA possible newfound planet spins through a clearing in a nearby star's dusty, planet-forming disk. The possible plane... view image |
![]() ssc2004-05d 03.15.04 Orbit ComparisonsThese four panels show the location of the newly discovered planet-like object, dubbed "Sedna," which lies in the far... view image |
![]() ssc2004-05c 03.15.04 Size ComparisonsThe artist's rendition shows the newly discovered planet-like object, dubbed "Sedna," in relation to other bodies in ... view image |
![]() dust_cover 08.23.03 Artist's Conception of Spitzer Ejecting its Dust CoverThe Spitzer Space Telescope was launched with a dust cover protecting the telescope. This image shows the dust cover... view image |
![]() SIRTF_departure 08.23.03 Spitzer Departing the Earth Soon After LaunchSpitzer departing the Earth soon after launch. Africa is prominently visible. The radio dish facilities at Hartebeest... view image |
![]() SIRTF_downlink 08.23.03 Spitzer Communicates with the EarthThe Spitzer Space Telescope points its high-gain antenna towards the Earth for downlinking recent observations and up... view image |
![]() sig00_star_planet_seq_vis 07.01.03 Sequence of Stars and Planets in Visible LightAn artist's rendition comparing brown dwarfs to stars and planets on the same scale. On the far left is the limb of t... view image |
![]() ssc-logo-02 01.01.03 Spitzer Space Telescope Grayscale LogoGrayscale color Spitzer Space Telescope logo. view image |