NASA's Spitzer Spitzer Space Telescope News https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news.xml In images from NASA's retired Spitzer Space Telescope, streams of dust thousands of light-years long flow toward the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Andromeda galaxy. It turns out these streams can help explain how black holes billions of times the mass of our Sun satiate their big appetites but remain "quiet" eaters. News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/nasa-images-help-explain-eating-habits-of-massive-black-hole ssc2024-02 Thu, 09 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 A team of scientists led by the Observatory of Munich University and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias have obtained direct visualization of the process of feeding the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Andromeda galaxy. The study reveals the existence of long filamentary structures of gas and dust which move in a spiral starting at a distance from the black hole and ending up at the black hole itself. The results, which have been published in the Astrophysical Journal, were obtained using images from the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes. From Partners https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/observers-measure-how-andromeda-s-central-black-hole-is-fed ssc2024-01 Mon, 15 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000 Observations by the MIRI instrument on NASA’s Webb telescope are providing new clues about the time window when planets can form around a young star. News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/webb-follows-neon-signs-toward-new-thinking-on-planet-formation ssc2023-02 Wed, 15 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000 Astronomers have discovered an Earth-size exoplanet, or world beyond our solar system, that may be carpeted with volcanoes. Called LP 791-18 d, the planet could undergo volcanic outbursts as often as Jupiter’s moon Io, the most volcanically active body in our solar system. News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/nasa-s-spitzer-tess-find-potentially-volcano-covered-earth-size-world ssc2023-01 Wed, 17 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000 A team led by researchers at the University of Montreal has found evidence that two exoplanets orbiting a red dwarf star are "water worlds," where water makes up a large fraction of the entire planet. News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/two-exoplanets-may-be-mostly-water-nasas-hubble-and-spitzer-find ssc2022-09 Thu, 15 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000 The youngest stars often shine in bright bursts as they consume material from surrounding disks. News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/baby-star-burps-tell-tales-of-frantic-feeding-nasa-data-shows ssc2022-08 Tue, 29 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000 In a tale of cosmic proportions, the region is being transformed by the massive stars that live and die within it. News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/nasa-esa-reveal-tale-of-death-dust-in-orion-constellation ssc2022-07 Tue, 22 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000 GJ 1252 b, a rocky, terrestrial "super-Earth" discovered in 2020, has been given a closer look and astronomers have found that the exoplanet could have a very minimal atmosphere or possibly no atmosphere at all. News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/discovery-alert-ultra-hot-super-earth-could-have-no-atmosphere ssc2022-06 Tue, 11 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000 A new study using archival observations by the now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope found a common trait among distant worlds where the exotic clouds form. News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/nasa-helps-decipher-how-some-distant-planets-have-clouds-of-sand ssc2022-05 Thu, 07 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000 New research led by space scientists at the University of Leicester has revealed how temperatures in Neptune’s atmosphere have unexpectedly fluctuated over the past two decades. From Partners https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/neptune-is-cooler-than-we-thought-study-reveals-unexpected-changes-in-atmospheric-temperatures ssc2022-04 Mon, 11 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000 Major smashups between rocky bodies shaped our solar system. Observations of a similar crash give clues about how frequent these events are around other stars. News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/nasa-spots-giant-debris-cloud-created-by-clashing-celestial-bodies ssc2022-03 Fri, 18 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000 Five years ago, astronomers revealed a spectacular collection of other worlds: the TRAPPIST-1 system. News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/day-of-discovery-7-earth-size-planets ssc2022-02 Tue, 22 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000 The infrared observatory may help answer questions about planets outside our solar system, or exoplanets, including how they form and what drives weather in their atmospheres. News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/nasa-s-spitzer-illuminates-exoplanets-in-astronomical-society-briefing ssc2022-01 Thu, 13 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000 Just like clouds on Earth, clouds of gas and dust in space can sometimes resemble familiar objects, or even popular movie creatures. News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/a-monster-star-forming-region-spied-by-nasa-s-spitzer ssc2021-09 Mon, 25 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000 Brown dwarfs aren’t quite stars and aren’t quite planets, and a new study suggests there might be more of them lurking in our galaxy than scientists previously thought. News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/an-accidental-discovery-hints-at-a-hidden-population-of-cosmic-objects ssc2021-08 Tue, 31 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000 The newly discovered feature offers insight into the large-scale structure of our galaxy, which is difficult to study from Earth’s position inside it. News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/astronomers-find-a-break-in-one-of-the-milky-way-s-spiral-arms ssc2021-07 Tue, 17 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000 Exploding stars generate dramatic light shows. Infrared telescopes like Spitzer can see through the haze and to give a better idea of how often these explosions occur. News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/stars-are-exploding-in-dusty-galaxies-we-just-can-t-always-see-them ssc2021-06 Wed, 04 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000 Among the first, and strangest, planets to be detected around other stars is a variety known as “hot Jupiters” – star-hugging, superheated giants once thought so unlikely that many scientists doubted their existence. News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/cosmic-legacy-retired-space-telescope-reveals-hot-jupiter-secrets ssc2021-05 Mon, 26 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000 This poster depicts the TRAPPIST-1 planets, some of which were discovered by Spitzer. News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/new-spitzer-space-telescope-poster-released ssc2021-04 Thu, 22 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000 Cosmic dawn, when stars formed for the first time, occurred 250 million to 350 million years after the beginning of the universe, according to a new study led by researchers at UC Santa Cruz, the University College London, and the University of Cambridge. From Partners https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/ partner106 Fri, 25 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000 Brown dwarfs, sometimes known as “failed stars,” can spin at upwards of 200,000 mph, but there may be a limit to how fast they can go. News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/trio-of-fast-spinning-brown-dwarfs-may-reveal-a-rotational-speed-limit ssc2021-03 Wed, 07 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000 Precise measurements reveal that the exoplanets have remarkably similar densities, which provides clues about their composition. News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/ssc2021-02-the-7-rocky-trappist-1-planets-may-be-made-of-similar-stuff ssc2021-02 Fri, 22 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000 Is our solar system located in a typical Milky Way neighborhood? Scientists have gotten closer to answering this question, thanks to the NASA-funded Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project, a “citizen science” collaboration between professional scientists and members of the public. News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/ssc2020-19-citizen-scientists-help-create-3d-map-of-cosmic-neighborhood ssc2020-19 Wed, 13 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000 NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope was officially decommissioned on January 30, 2020, but Spitzer’s discoveries will continue for years to come. A great way to learn about these science tidbits is to continue to follow Spitzer’s social media feeds under their new branding of “ExploreAstro at Caltech IPAC.” News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/ssc2020-18-continue-to-follow-spitzer-as-you-exploreastro-at-caltech-ipac ssc2020-18 Wed, 16 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000 The Blue Ring Nebula, which perplexed scientists for over a decade, appears to be the youngest known example of two stars merged into one. News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/ssc2020-17-16-year-old-cosmic-mystery-solved-revealing-stellar-missing-link ssc2020-17 Wed, 18 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000 An international team of scientists recently measured the spectrum of the atmosphere of a rare hot Neptune exoplanet, whose discovery by NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) was announced just last month. From Partners https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/partner105-data-reveals-evidence-of-molecular-absorption-in-the-atmosphere-of-a-hot-neptune partner105 Mon, 26 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000 The papers provide an inventory of some of the greatest discoveries of the past decade and suggest targets for the next generation telescope, scheduled to launch in 2021. News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/partner104-3-ucf-researchers-part-of-nature-astronomy-articles-chronicling-spitzer-space-telescope-legacy partner104 Mon, 12 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000 Telescopes give us a chance to see what the Galactic Center looks like in different types of light. By translating the inherently digital data (in the form of ones and zeroes) captured by telescopes in space into images, astronomers create visual representations that would otherwise be invisible to us. News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/ssc2020-16-data-sonification-sounds-from-around-the-milky-way ssc2020-16 Thu, 24 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000 The violent events leading up to the death of a star would likely drive away any planets. The newly discovered Jupiter-size object may have arrived long after the star died. News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/ssc2020-15-nasa-missions-spy-first-possible-planet-hugging-a-stellar-cinder ssc2020-15 Wed, 16 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000 The most massive stars in the universe are born inside cosmic clouds of gas and dust, where they leave behind clues about their lives for astronomers to decode. News Release https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/news/ssc2020-14-where-are-stars-made-nasas-spitzer-spies-a-hot-spot ssc2020-14 Tue, 25 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000