PIA04267: SST and the Milky Way, an Artist's Concept
 Mission:  Spitzer Space Telescope
 Product Size:  2560 x 1920 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  JPL
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA04267.tif (12.36 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA04267.jpg (308.7 kB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

The Spitzer Space Telescope whizzes in front of a brilliant, infrared view of the Milky Way galaxy's plane in this artistic depiction.

The mission marks the last of NASA's Great Observatories, a program that includes the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory.

In addition to studying many of the coldest, oldest and most dust-enshrouded objects and processes in the universe, the mission will also be an important part of NASA's Origins Program, which seeks to answer the questions: Where did we come from? Are we alone?

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL

Image Addition Date:
2003-03-22