After more than 16 years studying the universe in infrared light, revealing new wonders in the solar system, galaxy and beyond, NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope mission has come to an end.

The spacecraft was placed in safe mode, ceasing all science operations on January 30. After the decommissioning was confirmed, Spitzer project manager Joseph Hunt declared the mission had officially ended.

“This Great Observatory has also identified some important and new questions and tantalising objects for further study, mapping a path for future investigations to follow. Its immense impact on science certainly will last well beyond the end of its mission,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

What was the Spitzer mission?

NASA launched the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) in 2003. It was later known as the Spitzer Space Telescope, named after Lyman Spitzer Jr., an astrophysicist who made major contributions in the areas of stellar dynamics, plasma physics, thermonuclear fusion and space astronomy.

Its goal was to provide a unique, infrared view of the universe and allow us to peer into regions of space that are hidden from optical telescopes.

The Spitzer Space Telescope is the final mission in NASA’s Great Observatories Programme - a family of four space-based observatories, each observing the universe in a different kind of light.

The other missions in the programme include the visible-light Hubble Space Telescope (HST), Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (CGRO) and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (CXO). Spitzer is designed to detect infrared radiation, which is primarily heat radiation.

Spitzer was originally built to last for a minimum of 30 months, but it lasted in the cold phase for more than 66 months. On May 15, 2009, the coolant was finally depleted and the Spitzer “warm mission” began.

Discoveries using Spitzer

Among its many scientific contributions, Spitzer studied comets and asteroids in our solar system and found a previously unidentified ring around Saturn.

It studied star and planet formation, the evolution of galaxies from the ancient universe and the composition of interstellar dust.

It also proved to be a powerful tool for detecting exoplanets and characterising their atmospheres.

Spitzer’s best-known work may be detecting the seven Earth-size planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system - the largest number of terrestrial planets ever found orbiting a single star - and determining their masses and densities.

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