NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope ended its mission in 2020 after more than 16 years in space, but its infrared observations transformed our view of the universe. Unlike telescopes that primarily observe visible light, Spitzer could peer through thick clouds of cosmic dust that often obscure stars, planets and other celestial objects.
The Spitzer Space Telescope, formerly known as the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), was the fourth and final of NASA’s “Great Observatories,” following the Hubble Space Telescope, launched in 1990; the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, launched in 1991; and the Chandra X-ray Observatory, launched in 1999.
