Smiling, Spitzer Staff Scientist Dr. Ranga-Ram Chary silently watched as 17-year old Katie Mills explained a complex plot of spikes and dips to Pasadena Star News reporter Kimm Groshong. Ironically, just two days before this interview, upon her arrival at the Spitzer Science Center (SSC), the North Carolina teen worried that she wasn't "smart enough to do Dr. Chary's job."

On June 22, 2005, NASA honored the Spitzer Space Telescope's groundbreaking contributions to the field of astronomy at the NASA Honor Awards ceremony, hosted by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Locked in the core of comet Tempel 1 are mystery ingredients that may explain the creation of planets, and the conditions of the early solar system. After six years of preparation and 268 million miles of travel, NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft will finally unleash these secrets by placing its impactor spacecraft in the path of the hurtling comet, which is zooming along at a relative speed of 23,000 miles per hour. This collision will create a plume of cosmic dust and a large crater on the face of the comet. Watching from the sideline will be Deep Impact's flyby spacecraft and, farther away, the Spitzer Space Telescope.

An enormous light echo etched in the sky by a fitful dead star was spotted by the infrared eyes of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

University of Notre Dame

On July 4, NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft will attempt an extraordinarily daring encounter with the far-flung comet Tempel 1, which is hurtling through space at tens of thousands of miles per hour. As if that is not challenging enough, the comet's size, shape and other characteristics are not entirely known.

Twice a year, the American Astronomical Society, or AAS, meets so scientists can share their research with their peers. The 206th AAS meeting is taking place from May 29 through June 2, 2005 in Minneapolis, and many Spitzer researchers are attending.

The saga of how a few monstrous stars spawned a diverse community of additional stars is told in a new image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

The Spitzer Space Telescope is currently executing its first-ever High Impact Target of Opportunity (ToO) observation in order to catch a look at the aftermath of one of the most violent explosions in the universe. The ToO program was designed as a means to interrupt Spitzer's normal observation schedule in the case of an extraordinary event.

How does an idea become an observation on the Spitzer Space Telescope? Every year in February, astronomers from around the world submit proposals, requesting observations with Spitzer. In April, the Time Allocation Committee (TAC) meets, considers these proposals, and selects the very best to comprise Spitzer's next year of observations.

NASA salutes Space Day, observed this year on May 5, with a new dramatic image of the Sombrero galaxy. Space Day, held the first Thursday each May, is designed to inspire the next generation of explorers.

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has spotted what may be the dusty spray of asteroids banging together in a belt that orbits a star like our Sun. The discovery offers astronomers a rare glimpse at a distant star system that resembles our home, and may represent a significant step toward learning if and where other Earths form.

Six observing projects (a total of 3.5 hours on the Spitzer Space Telescope) have been approved as part of the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope Observing Program for Students and Teachers .

Spitzer Space Telescope scientists have successfully probed the center of the Milky Way and have come to a stunning conclusion: the center is full of chocolate nougat.

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has for the first time captured the light from two known planets orbiting stars other than our Sun. The findings mark the beginning of a new age of planetary science, in which "extrasolar" planets can be directly measured and compared.

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

How do you hide something as big and bright as a galaxy? You smother it in cosmic dust. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope saw through such dust to uncover a hidden population of monstrously bright galaxies approximately 11 billion light-years away.

Only 541 days into its mission, Spitzer has reached 10,000 science observations. The telescope's Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) captured the milestone observation of nearby spiral galaxy M83 on Feb. 16, 2005 at 9:12:27:02 UTC.

The candles are lit, the champagne is on ice. All you need now are flowers and a ring. This Valentine's Day, NASA's Spitzer and Cassini spacecraft provide you with both, in two engaging new images.

Moons circle planets, and planets circle stars. Now, astronomers have learned that planets may also circle celestial bodies almost as small as planets.

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has uncovered a hatchery for massive stars.

When our solar system was young, its biggest babies ”Jupiter and Saturn” threw tantrums by the trillion. The huge planets hurled ice-covered rocky bodies from the inner solar system far past the orbit of Pluto.

Astronomers have numerous technical terms and numbering systems for describing the universe, but one type of mysterious object has yet to be classified. For now, these oddities are named for their strange appearance. They are called blobs.

Astronomers say a dusty disk swirling around the nearby star Vega is bigger than earlier thought. It was probably caused by collisions of objects, perhaps as big as the planet Pluto, up to 2,000 kilometers (about 1,200 miles) in diameter.

The National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) has teamed with the Spitzer Science Center (SSC) to offer a dozen graduates from NOAO's advanced teacher professional development program a unique chance to make research-quality observations with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

On January 1, 2005, Spitzer was honored in the 116th Rose Parade. The JPL-Caltech float, called "A Family of Explorers," received the Crown City Innovation Trophy for Best Use of Imagination & Innovation to Advance the Art of Float Design.

When you watch the 116th Rose Parade on January 1, 2005, you'll see something spectacular: a gigantic Explorer figure which rises to 50 feet above the parade route and features nine spacecraft, including the Spitzer Space Telescope. This year, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology will have a monumental float called "A Family of Explorers" in the annual Tournament of Roses Parade.

The Spitzer Science Center (SSC) with the collaboration of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) has designed a program for teacher and student research using observing time on the Spitzer Space Telescope. The participating teachers will attend a fall 2004 workshop to become familiar with the Spitzer Space Telescope archives and to receive training in infrared astronomy and observational techniques. The teachers will also attend a workshop offered by the SSC to learn about the observation planning process and telescope and instrument capabilities.

Two of NASA's Great Observatories, the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope, have provided astronomers an unprecedented look at dusty planetary debris around stars the size of our Sun.

University of Arizona