A Delta II rocket, initially intended to launch the Spitzer Space Telescope on April 18, 2003. However, due to additional engineering tests that were needed on the rocket, the launch was delayed and the rocket was instead used to launch a Mars mission. Spitzer launched on a different rocket on August 25, 2003.

A Delta II rocket, initially intended to launch the Spitzer Space Telescope on April 18, 2003. However, due to additional engineering tests that were needed on the rocket, the launch was delayed and the rocket was instead used to launch a Mars mission. Spitzer launched on a different rocket on August 25, 2003.

A Delta II rocket, initially intended to launch the Spitzer Space Telescope on April 18, 2003. However, due to additional engineering tests that were needed on the rocket, the launch was delayed and the rocket was instead used to launch a Mars mission. Spitzer launched on a different rocket on August 25, 2003.

A Delta II rocket, initially intended to launch the Spitzer Space Telescope on April 18, 2003. However, due to additional engineering tests that were needed on the rocket, the launch was delayed and the rocket was instead used to launch a Mars mission. Spitzer launched on a different rocket on August 25, 2003.

A Delta II rocket, initially intended to launch the Spitzer Space Telescope on April 18, 2003. However, due to additional engineering tests that were needed on the rocket, the launch was delayed and the rocket was instead used to launch a Mars mission. Spitzer launched on a different rocket on August 25, 2003.

A Delta II rocket, initially intended to launch the Spitzer Space Telescope on April 18, 2003. However, due to additional engineering tests that were needed on the rocket, the launch was delayed and the rocket was instead used to launch a Mars mission. Spitzer launched on a different rocket on August 25, 2003.

A Delta II rocket, initially intended to launch the Spitzer Space Telescope on April 18, 2003. However, due to additional engineering tests that were needed on the rocket, the launch was delayed and the rocket was instead used to launch a Mars mission. Spitzer launched on a different rocket on August 25, 2003.

A Delta II rocket, initially intended to launch the Spitzer Space Telescope on April 18, 2003. However, due to additional engineering tests that were needed on the rocket, the launch was delayed and the rocket was instead used to launch a Mars mission. Spitzer launched on a different rocket on August 25, 2003.

A Delta II rocket, initially intended to launch the Spitzer Space Telescope on April 18, 2003. However, due to additional engineering tests that were needed on the rocket, the launch was delayed and the rocket was instead used to launch a Mars mission. Spitzer launched on a different rocket on August 25, 2003.

A Delta II rocket, initially intended to launch the Spitzer Space Telescope on April 18, 2003. However, due to additional engineering tests that were needed on the rocket, the launch was delayed and the rocket was instead used to launch a Mars mission. Spitzer launched on a different rocket on August 25, 2003.

A Delta II rocket, initially intended to launch the Spitzer Space Telescope on April 18, 2003. However, due to additional engineering tests that were needed on the rocket, the launch was delayed and the rocket was instead used to launch a Mars mission. Spitzer launched on a different rocket on August 25, 2003.

A Delta II rocket, initially intended to launch the Spitzer Space Telescope on April 18, 2003. However, due to additional engineering tests that were needed on the rocket, the launch was delayed and the rocket was instead used to launch a Mars mission. Spitzer launched on a different rocket on August 25, 2003.

A Delta II rocket, initially intended to launch the Spitzer Space Telescope on April 18, 2003. However, due to additional engineering tests that were needed on the rocket, the launch was delayed and the rocket was instead used to launch a Mars mission. Spitzer launched on a different rocket on August 25, 2003.

A Delta II rocket, initially intended to launch the Spitzer Space Telescope on April 18, 2003. However, due to additional engineering tests that were needed on the rocket, the launch was delayed and the rocket was instead used to launch a Mars mission. Spitzer launched on a different rocket on August 25, 2003.

Jets of outflowing gas burst from a forming star still accumulating material from the surrounding disk.

This figure shows an artist's rendition comparing brown dwarfs to stars and planets. All objects are plotted to the same scale. On the far left is the limb of the Sun. To its right is shown a very low mass star (a so-called "late-M dwarf"), a couple of brown dwarfs (a hotter "L dwarf" and a cooler "T dwarf"), and the planet Jupiter. These objects have masses ranging from 1050 times that of Jupiter (for the Sun) through 75, 65, 30, and 1 Jupiter mass for the late-M dwarf, L dwarf, T dwarf, and Jupiter, respectively. The colors of the brown dwarfs are chosen to match an age of 1 billion years. Despite the range in mass, all four of the low-mass objects are approximately the same size, ten times smaller than the diameter of the Sun. The infrared-light shows the same objects as they might appear to eyes sensitive to near-infrared light. Here the M and L dwarfs are slightly orange or red compared to the Sun, but the T dwarf is distinctly blue due to a lack of light in the "green" and "red" caused by absorption from methane. Methane is also abundant in the atmosphere of Jupiter and this, along with the clouds and bands of other complex molecules, gives it alternating patches of pink and blue.

Grayscale Spitzer Space Telescope logo. Jpeg's have a solid white background and Png's have a transparent background.

Full color Spitzer Science Center logo. Jpeg's have a solid white background and Png's have a transparent background.

The Spitzer Space Telescope cryogenic telescope assembly (CTA) being prepared for vibration testing.

Full color Spitzer Space Telescope logo. Jpeg's have a solid white background and Png's have a transparent background.

The Spitzer Space Telescope assembled.

The Spitzer Space Telescope during the cryogenic telescope assembly (CTA) integration.

This is one segment of an infrared portrait of dust and stars radiating in the inner Milky Way. More than 800,000 frames from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope were stitched together to create the full image, capturing more than 50 percent of our entire galaxy. As inhabitants of a flat galactic disk, Earth and its solar system have an edge-on view of their host galaxy, like looking at a glass dish from its edge. From our perspective, most of the galaxy is condensed into a blurry narrow band of light that stretches completely around the sky, also known as the galactic plane. This segment extends through the constellation Norma. The flat band of green running through this region is mostly dust in the distant disk of the Milky Way galaxy. The brightening towards the right edge corresponds to our sightline down the Norma spiral arm. In visible light the foreground dust renders this area nearly featureless and dark with only a scattering of nearby stars. The swaths of green represent organic molecules, called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are illuminated by light from nearby star formation, while the thermal emission, or heat, from warm dust is rendered in red. Star-forming regions appear as swirls of red and yellow, where the warm dust overlaps with the glowing organic molecules. The blue specks sprinkled throughout the photograph are Milky Way stars. This survey segment spans galactic longitudes of 327.0 to 335.2 degrees and is centered at a galactic latitude of 0 degrees. It covers about two vertical degrees of the galactic plane. This is a three-color composite that shows infrared observations from two Spitzer instruments. Blue represents 3.6-micron light and green shows light of 8 microns, both captured by Spitzer's infrared array camera. Red is 24-micron light detected by Spitzer's multiband imaging photometer. This combines observations from the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) and MIPSGAL projects.

This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows what astronomers are referring to as a "snake" (upper left) and its surrounding stormy environment. The sinuous object is actually the core of a thick, sooty cloud large enough to swallow dozens of solar systems. In fact, astronomers say the "snake's belly" may be harboring beastly stars in the process of forming.The galactic creepy crawler to the right of the snake is another thick cloud core, in which additional burgeoning massive stars might be lurking. The colorful regions below the two cloud cores are less dense cloud material, in which dust has been heated by starlight and glows with infrared light. Yellow and orange dots throughout the image are monstrous developing stars; the red star on the "belly" of the snake is 20 to 50 times as massive as our sun. The blue dots are foreground stars.The red ball at the bottom left is a "supernova remnant," the remains of massive star that died in a fiery blast. Astronomers speculate that radiation and winds from the star before it died, in addition to a shock wave created when it exploded, might have played a role in creating the snake.Spitzer was able to spot the two black cloud cores using its heat-seeking infrared vision. The objects are hiding in the dusty plane of our Milky Way galaxy, invisible to optical telescopes. Because their heat, or infrared light, can sneak through the dust, they first showed up in infrared images from past missions. The cloud cores are so thick with dust that if you were to somehow transport yourself into the middle of them, you would see nothing but black, not even a star in the sky. Now, that's spooky!Spitzer's new view of the region provides the best look yet at the massive embryonic stars hiding inside the snake. Astronomers say these observations will ultimately help them better understand how massive stars form. By studying the clustering and range of masses of the stellar embryos, they hope to determine if the stars were born in the same way that our low-mass sun was formed -- out of a collapsing cloud of gas and dust -- or by another mechanism in which the environment plays a larger role.The snake is located about 11,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius.This false-color image is a composite of infrared data taken by Spitzer's infrared array camera and multiband imaging photometer. Blue represents 3.6-micron light; green shows light of 8 microns; and red is 24-micron light.