Spitzer Space Telescope-Space Infrared Telescope
April 13, 2008
The Spitzer Space Telescope was once known as the Space Infrared Telescope Facility and it was sent into space just a few years back. The best part of this Spitzer Space Telescope was that it allowed the astronomers to view images as well as spectra through detection by infrared energy, or to make it simpler the heat radiated by the objects in the space. The radiation had great wavelengths that ranged from three to one hundred eighty microns, with each micron not being more than one million of a meter.
There was a reason why NASA sent the Spitzer Space Telescope into space and that was it could capture images that were not possible to capture from Earth because of the atmosphere which blocks the infrared radiation. The Spitzer Space Telescope is the largest infrared telescope that has ever been launched into space so far, and this telescope has a very sensitive instrument that allows astronomers to get a unique view of the Universe and it gives viewing possibilities that are otherwise impossible to obtain using optical telescopes.
Advantage Offered:
The main advantage of using this Spitzer Space Telescope is that there are a lot of dense clouds of gas and dust that block our view of space, this telescope helps us to view the space because it can penetrate using infrared rays or light. This telescope thus helps astronomers to view the regions where stars are formed, the galaxy centers, as well as view new formation of planetary system. Not only does it allow us to view the above mentioned space objects like the star and planets but it also helps us find cooler objects in space like the more minute stars that are otherwise too dim to observe. This telescope also helps us view extra solar planets as well as huge molecular clouds.
Technical Part:
The technical side of this telescope is that this Spitzer Space Telescope uses infrared radiation but then this telescope has to first be cooled to minus 273 degrees Celsius, or near absolute zero before the infrared signals from outer space can be detected without being interfered by the telescope’s own heat. As you very well know that the Sun’s heat has the capacity to destroy anything because of its heat this Spitzer Space Telescope too has to protect itself from the heat as well as the infrared radiation of the Earth also. Therefore this telescope too has a solar shield and with protection this telescope was launched into an Earth-trailing solar orbit, which keeps the Spitzer far enough from the Earth so that it stays cool enough and does not require carrying cryogen, which is a coolant to stay, cool. Such innovative inventions has made the Spitzer Space Telescope considerably cheaper, to successfully accomplish its mission as well.
Of the four orbiting observatories that forms the NASA’s Great Observatories Program The Spitzer Space Telescope is the last one which is orbiting in space and observing the Universe in all its varying kinds of light such as visible, gamma rays, X-rays and also infrared.
Summary:
NASA has set up four great observatories and of this as you have just read above, and the last one of them being the Spitzer Space Telescope. The main feature of this telescope is that it uses infrared radiation and these infrared radiation helps astronomers to study the solar system where these rays help penetrate through the earth’s atmosphere and capture the various kinds of images in our solar system which would have been otherwise impossible to capture. Furthermore this telescope is protected by the solar shield with helps it to orbit around the sun at a safe distance so that it remains cool enough to capture images and the different changes that go on in the Earth’s atmosphere like the formation of the stars and the planets.
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