![]() ssc2014-06b 08.28.14 Witnessing a Planetary WreckageAstronomers were surprised to see these data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope in January 2013, showing a huge erup... view image |
![]() ssc2011-06b 05.26.11 Finding Forsterite Around a Developing StarUsing NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers have, for the first time, found signatures of silicate crystals aro... view image |
![]() ssc2010-09a 10.27.10 Extragalactic Space BallsFor the first time, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has detected little spheres of carbon, called buckyballs, in a gal... view image |
![]() ssc2010-07a 08.23.10 Spectral Signatures of Planetary DoomThis plot of data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope tells astronomers that a dusty planetary smashup probably occur... view image |
![]() sig10-011 07.14.10 A Massive Star and Its CradleThis star-forming region is dominated by the bright, young star IRAS 13481-6124 (upper left), which is about twenty t... view image |
![]() sig10-006 05.20.10 Blobs House Twin StarsNew evidence from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope is showing that tight-knit twin stars might be triggered to form by ... view image |
![]() ssc2010-03a 03.17.10 How to Spot a Primitive Black HoleThese two data plots from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope show a primitive supermassive black hole (top) compared to a... view image |
![]() ssc2010-01a 01.05.10 Epsilon Aurigae Puzzle Pieces Snap Into PlaceThis graph of data from multiple telescopes shows the distribution of light from a pair of stars known as Epsilon Aur... view image |
![]() sig09-008 11.04.09 A Picture of Unsettled Planetary YouthNASA's Spitzer Space Telescope captured this infrared image of a giant halo of very fine dust around the young star H... view image |
![]() ssc2009-16b 08.10.09 Signs of Blasted RockThis spectrum, or plot of infrared data, from NASA's Spitzer Space telescope reveals the presence of vaporized and me... view image |
![]() ssc2009-13b 06.10.09 Telltale Signs of Stellar YouthThese data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveal a newborn star at the center of our Milky Way. Our galaxy's cor... view image |
![]() ssc2009-11a 05.13.09 Seeing Crystals Form Around a Young StarAstronomers have had a rare opportunity to witness the creation of silicate crystals around a young star, as seen in ... view image |
![]() sig09-002 04.20.09 Emission from the White Dwarf System GD 16This chart shows the brightness and wavelength of the radiation coming from white dwarf GD 16 and its associated disk... view image |
![]() ssc2009-09a 04.07.09 Cool Stars May Have Different Prebiotic Chemical MixNASA's Spitzer Space Telescope detected a prebiotic, or potentially life-forming, molecule called hydrogen cyanide (H... view image |
![]() sig08-017 12.16.08 Devastated Stellar NeighborhoodThis image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the nasty effects of living near a group of massive stars: radia... view image |
![]() ssc2008-06a 03.13.08 A Young Stellar Disk around AA TauriThis plot of infrared data shows the signatures of water vapor and simple organic molecules in the disk of gas and du... view image |
![]() ssc2008-06b 03.13.08 Water Vapor in the Young Planetary Disk of AS 205NThis plot of infrared data shows the strong signature of water vapor in the disk of gas and dust surrounding a young ... view image |
![]() ssc2007-03a 02.12.07 Comets Kick Up Dust in Helix NebulaThis infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Helix nebula, a cosmic starlet often photographed b... view image |
![]() sig06-023 10.03.06 A Star's Close EncounterThe potential planet-forming disk (or "protoplanetary disk") of a sun-like star is being violently ripped away by the... view image |
![]() ssc2006-10a 04.05.06 Circle of AshesThis plot tells astronomers that a pulsar, the remnant of a stellar explosion, is surrounded by a disk of its own ash... view image |
![]() ssc2006-05a 02.08.06 Little Dust Grains in Giant Stellar DisksThis graph of data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the composition of a monstrous disk of what may be plane... view image |
![]() ssc2005-26a 12.20.05 Life's Starting Materials Found in Dusty DiskThis graph, or spectrum, from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope tells astronomers that some of the most basic ingredient... view image |
![]() sig05-026 12.14.05 The Invisible DiskAstronomers can detect the presence of disks of dust orbiting distant stars by measuring how the combined light from ... view image |
![]() ssc2005-21a 10.20.05 Planet Clumps and Crystals Around Brown DwarfsThis graph of data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the spectra (middle four lines) of dusty disks around fo... view image |
![]() ssc2005-10a 04.20.05 Super-Comet or Big Asteroid BeltThis graph of data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope demonstrates that the dust around a nearby star called HD 6983... view image |
![]() ssc2005-01a 01.10.05 Tiny Particles, So Far AwayNASA's Spitzer Space Telescope recently captured these images of the star Vega, located 25 light years away in the co... view image |
![]() ssc2004-22c 12.09.04 Is There Anybody Home?NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope recently captured these infrared images of six older stars with known planets. The yel... view image |
![]() ssc2004-22d 12.09.04 Debris Disks Around Sun-Like Stars AU Microscopii and HD 107146Debris disks are shown here around two stars, one a small red dwarf, the other like our sun but much younger. view image |
![]() ssc2004-22b 12.09.04 Planets Point to DustThis graph of data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope indicates that stars with known planets (blue) are more likely... view image |
![]() ssc2004-20c 11.09.04 Spitzer Spectrum of Ices in a Protoplanetary DiscAstronomers have made the first clear detection of a variety of ices -- water, ammonium, and carbon dioxide -- in the... view image |
![]() ssc2004-17b 10.18.04 Spitzer Detects Surprisingly Large Rings of DustThis graph shows the extent of planetary debris discs around nearby stars of various ages, as measured by NASA's Spit... view image |
![]() ssc2005-06a 07.02.04 Planetary Building Blocks Found in Surprising PlaceThis graph of data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows that an extraordinarily low-mass brown dwarf, or "failed... view image |
![]() ssc2004-08b 05.27.04 Spitzer Spectra of Protoplanetary DisksUsing sensitive instruments onboard NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, scientists have seen the first building blocks of... view image |
![]() ssc2004-08c 05.27.04 Spectra Show Protoplanetary Disk StructuresHow can you tell if a star has a protoplanetary disk around it, when the disk is too small to image directly? Using t... view image |
![]() ssc2003-06i 12.18.03 Fomalhaut Circumstellar DiskThe NASA Spitzer Space Telescope has obtained the first infrared images of the dust disc surrounding Fomalhaut, the 1... view image |