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List		 Addition DateSort Ascending Target Mission Instrument Size
Add Image to Favorite List 2022-03-18 Spitzer Space Telescope
 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This illustration depicts the result of a collision between two large asteroid-sized bodies. NASA's Spitzer saw a debris cloud block the star HD 166191, giving scientists details about the smashup that occurred.
PIA25161:
Planetesimal Collison Around Star HD 166191 (Illustration)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (9.714 MB)     JPEG (282.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2018-02-05 Spitzer Space Telescope
 TRAPPIST
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All seven planets discovered in orbit around the red dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 could easily fit inside the orbit of Mercury, the innermost planet of our solar system. In fact, they would have room to spare.
PIA22096:
TRAPPIST-1 Compared to Jovian Moons and Inner Solar System - Updated Feb. 2018
Full Resolution:     TIFF (3.656 MB)     JPEG (650.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2018-02-05 Spitzer Space Telescope
 TRAPPIST
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This graph presents known properties of the seven TRAPPIST-1 exoplanets (labeled b through h), showing how they stack up to the inner rocky worlds in our own solar system.
PIA22095:
Comparing TRAPPIST-1 to the Solar System
Full Resolution:     TIFF (4.411 MB)     JPEG (591.6 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2018-02-05 Spitzer Space Telescope
 TRAPPIST
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This chart shows artist concepts of the seven planets of TRAPPIST-1 with their orbital periods, distances from their star, radii, masses, densities and surface gravity as compared to those of Earth. These numbers are current as of February 2018.
PIA22094:
TRAPPIST-1 Planet Lineup - Updated Feb. 2018
Full Resolution:     TIFF (9.101 MB)     JPEG (1.133 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2017-08-17 Spitzer Space Telescope
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By using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers have found that the varying glow of brown dwarfs over time can be explained by bands of patchy clouds rotating at different speeds, as shown in this artist's concept.
PIA21752:
Brown Dwarf Weather (Artist's Concept) Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (7.027 MB)     JPEG (397.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2017-02-22 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This illustration shows the seven TRAPPIST-1 planets as they might look as viewed from Earth using a fictional, incredibly powerful telescope. The sizes and relative positions are correctly to scale.
PIA21429:
Transit Illustration of TRAPPIST-1
Full Resolution:     TIFF (26.82 MB)     JPEG (535.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2017-02-22 Spitzer Space Telescope
 TRAPPIST
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All seven planets discovered in orbit around the red dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 could easily fit inside the orbit of Mercury, the innermost planet of our solar system.
PIA21428:
TRAPPIST-1 Comparison to Solar System and Jovian Moons
Full Resolution:     TIFF (3.612 MB)     JPEG (646.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2017-02-22 Spitzer Space Telescope
 TRAPPIST
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This chart shows, on the top row, artist conceptions of the seven planets of TRAPPIST-1 with their orbital periods, distances from their star, radii and masses as compared to those of Earth. The bottom row shows data about Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
PIA21425:
TRAPPIST-1 Statistics Table
Full Resolution:     TIFF (9.099 MB)     JPEG (932.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2016-11-10 OGLE-2015-BLG-1319 Spitzer Space Telescope
SWIFT
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This illustration depicts a brown dwarf. NASA's Spitzer and Swift missions observed a microlensing event as the star passed between Earth and a much more distant star in our galaxy.
PIA21076:
Brown Dwarf Microlensing (Illustration)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (18.01 MB)     JPEG (460.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-08-20 Spitzer Space Telescope
 Spitzer Space Telescope
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NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope celebrated its 12th anniversary with a new digital calendar showcasing some of the mission's most notable discoveries and popular cosmic eye candy.
PIA19872:
NASA's Spitzer 12th Anniversary Space Calendar
Full Resolution:     TIFF (38.9 MB)     JPEG (1.945 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-07-30 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's rendition shows one possible appearance for the planet HD 219134b, the nearest confirmed rocky exoplanet found to date outside our solar system.
PIA19833:
Hot, Rocky World (Artist's Concept) Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (38.9 MB)     JPEG (834.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-07-30 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This sky map shows the location of the star HD 219134 (circle), host to the nearest confirmed rocky planet found to date outside of our solar system. The star lies just off the 'W' shape of the constellation Cassiopeia.
PIA19832:
Location of Nearest Rocky Exoplanet Known
Full Resolution:     TIFF (9.941 MB)     JPEG (292.6 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-07-30 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's conception shows the silhouette of a rocky planet, dubbed HD 219134b, as it passes in front of its star. At 21 light-years away, the planet is the closest outside of our solar system that can be seen crossing, or transiting, its star.
PIA19831:
Little Black Spot on the Star Today (Artist's Concept) Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (17.28 MB)     JPEG (295.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-01-27 Spitzer Space Telescope
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'Yellow balls' -- which are several hundred to thousands times the size of our solar system -- are pictured here in the center of this image taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
PIA18908:
Finding 'Yellowballs' in our Milky Way
Full Resolution:     TIFF (15.2 MB)     JPEG (413.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2014-11-10 Spitzer Space Telescope
 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This diagram illustrates two similar star systems, HD 95086 and HR 8799. Evidence from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has pointed to the presence of two dust belts in each system.
PIA18900:
Sibling Star Systems? Dust Structures Suggest So
Full Resolution:     TIFF (39.62 MB)     JPEG (590.8 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2014-07-23 Kepler
Spitzer Space Telescope
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Using data from NASA's Kepler and Spitzer Space Telescopes, scientists have made the most precise measurement ever of the size of a world outside our solar system, as illustrated in this artist's conception.
PIA18463:
Gauging an Alien World's Size (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (23.77 MB)     JPEG (993.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2014-03-20 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This mosaic reveals a panorama of the Milky Way from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. This picture covers only about three percent of the sky, but includes more than half of the galaxy's stars and the majority of its star formation activity.
PIA17996:
GLIMPSE the Galaxy All the Way Around
Full Resolution:     TIFF (375.9 MB)     JPEG (9.296 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-07-31 Spitzer Space Telescope
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In this artist's impression, a pair of stars peeks out from a tilted disk twirling around them, allowing astronomers to monitor their 'blinking' pattern.
PIA17252:
Dusty Hula Hoop Rings 'Blinking' Stellar Duo (Illustration)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (24.89 MB)     JPEG (497.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-05-06 Spitzer Space Telescope
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In this image, an artistic version of a hot Jupiter inspired by computer simulations has been inserted into a photo showing a Spitzer researcher, Heather Knutson, in a laboratory.
PIA17008:
An Astronomer's Fantasy: Planets in the Lab
Full Resolution:     TIFF (32.01 MB)     JPEG (1.025 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-01-08 Herschel Space Observatory
Spitzer Space Telescope
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In this diagram, the Vega system, which was already known to have a cooler outer belt of comets (orange), is compared to our solar system with its asteroid and Kuiper belts. The ring of warm, rocky debris was detected using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope,
PIA16611:
Vega: Two Belts and the Possibility of Planets
Full Resolution:     TIFF (30.74 MB)     JPEG (304.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-12-18 Spitzer Space Telescope
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The giant star Zeta Ophiuchi, a young, large and hot star located around 370 light-years away, is having a 'shocking' effect on the surrounding dust clouds in this infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
PIA16604:
Massive Star Makes Waves
Full Resolution:     TIFF (43.82 MB)     JPEG (1.115 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-11-01 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This illustration shows three possible scenarios for the evolution of asteroid belts. At the top, a Jupiter-size planet migrates through the asteroid belt, scattering material and inhibiting the formation of life on planets.
PIA16212:
Scenarios for the Evolution of Asteroid Belts
Full Resolution:     TIFF (15.31 MB)     JPEG (616.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-07-18 Spitzer Space Telescope
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Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have detected what they believe is an alien world just two-thirds the size of Earth -- one of the smallest on record.
PIA15808:
Exoplanet is Extremely Hot and Incredibly Close (Artist's Concept) Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (44.26 MB)     JPEG (821.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-05-08 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept shows how NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope was able to detect a super Earth's direct light for the first time using its sensitive heat-seeking infrared vision.
PIA15622:
First-of-Its-Kind Glimpse at a Super Earth (Artist Animation)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (164 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-05-08 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This plot of data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveals the light from a 'super Earth' called 55 Cancri e. The planet is the smallest yet, beyond our solar system, to reveal its direct light.
PIA15621:
Magician of a Planet Disappears to Reveal Itself
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (332.6 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-10-19 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's conception illustrates a storm of comets around a star near our own, called Eta Corvi. Evidence for this barrage comes from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope's infrared detectors.
PIA14739:
It's Raining Comets (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (30.72 MB)     JPEG (328.2 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-12-08 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept shows the searing-hot gas planet WASP-12b (orange orb) and its star. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope discovered that the planet has more carbon than oxygen, making it the first carbon-rich planet ever observed.
PIA13691:
Hot, Carbon-Rich Planet (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (23.04 MB)     JPEG (276.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-05-20 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This image is one of six images taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, showing that tight-knit twin, or binary stars might be triggered to form by asymmetrical envelopes.
PIA13149:
Blobs House Twin Stars
Full Resolution:     TIFF (15.73 MB)     JPEG (558.6 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-04-21 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept illustrates a hot, Neptune-sized planet called GJ 436b. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has found evidence that GJ 436b, orbiting a star beyond our sun lacks methane -- an ingredient common to many planets in our own solar system.
PIA13054:
Exotic Exoplanet (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (25.25 MB)     JPEG (331.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2009-08-12 Cepheus B Chandra X-ray Observatory
Spitzer Space Telescope
 Chandra X-ray Telescope
IRAC
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This composite image, combining data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Spitzer Space Telescope shows the star-forming cloud Cepheus B, located in our Milky Way galaxy about 2,400 light years from Earth.
PIA12169:
Trigger-Happy Cloud
Full Resolution:     TIFF (29.69 MB)     JPEG (402.1 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2009-08-10 HD 172555 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept shows a celestial body about the size of our moon slamming at great speed into a body the size of Mercury. NASA's Spitzer found evidence that a high-speed collision of this sort occurred a few thousand years ago around a young star.
PIA12166:
Planetary Demolition Derby (Artist Concept) Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (362.1 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2009-05-13 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept illustrates how silicate crystals like those found in comets can be created by an outburst from a growing star. The image shows a young sun-like star encircled by its planet-forming disk of gas and dust. Animation available.
PIA12008:
Silicate Crystal Formation in the Disk of an Erupting Star (Artist Concept) Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (276.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2009-01-28 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
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This figure charts 30 hours of observations taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope of a strongly irradiated exoplanet (an planet orbiting a star beyond our own). Spitzer measured changes in the planet's heat, or infrared light.
PIA11390:
Light from Red-Hot Planet
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (506.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2008-10-27 Epsilon Eridani Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's diagram based on observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope compares the Epsilon Eridani system to our own solar system. The two systems are structure
PIA11376:
Young Solar System in the Making (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (405.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2008-10-27 Epsilon Eridani Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's conception shows the closest known planetary system to our own, called Epsilon Eridani. Observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope show that the system hosts two asteroid belts.
PIA11375:
Double the Rubble (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (14.4 MB)     JPEG (249.1 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2008-06-03 Milky Way Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
MIPS
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More than 800,000 frames from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope were stitched together to create this infrared portrait of dust and stars radiating in the inner Milky Way.
PIA10750:
Spitzer Finds Clarity in the Inner Milky Way
Full Resolution:     TIFF (466.6 MB)     JPEG (19.03 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2008-06-03 Milky Way Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
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More than 444,580 frames from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope were stitched together to create this portrait of the raging star-formation occurring in the inner Milky Way.
PIA10749:
Inner Milky Way Raging with Star Formation
Full Resolution:     TIFF (466.6 MB)     JPEG (26.13 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2008-03-27 HD 189733b Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's impression shows a gas-giant exoplanet transiting across the face of its star. Infrared analysis by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope of this type of system provided the breakthrough.
PIA10364:
NASA's Spitzer Finds Water Vapor on Hot, Alien Planet (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (6.821 MB)     JPEG (233.2 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2008-02-11 Rho Ophiuchi Spitzer Space Telescope
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Newborn stars peek out from beneath their natal blanket of dust in this dynamic image of the Rho Ophiuchi dark cloud from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. This nebula is about 407 light years away from Earth.
PIA10182:
Young Stars in Their Baby Blanket of Dust
Full Resolution:     TIFF (52.46 MB)     JPEG (1.065 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2008-02-11 Rho Ophiuchi Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
Multiband Imaging Photometer (MIPS)
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Newborn stars peek out from beneath their natal blanket of dust in this dynamic image of the Rho Ophiuchi dark cloud from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
PIA10181:
Young Stars in Their Baby Blanket of Dust
Full Resolution:     TIFF (52.46 MB)     JPEG (812 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2007-11-29 L1157 Spitzer Space Telescope
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A rare, infrared view of a developing star and its flaring jets taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows us what our own solar system might have looked like billions of years ago.
PIA10119:
Baby Picture of our Solar System Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (5.079 MB)     JPEG (154.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2007-11-28 UX Tau A Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept is of the one-million-year-old star system called UX Tau A, approximately 450 light-years away. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope showed a gap in the dusty planet-forming disk swirling around the system's central sun-like star.
PIA10118:
UX Tau A (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (330.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2007-10-03 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's conception shows a binary-star, or two-star, system, called HD 113766, where astronomers suspect a rocky Earth-like planet is forming around one of the stars.
PIA09931:
Birth of an Earth-like Planet (Artist Xoncept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (281.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2007-08-29 NGC 1333 Spitzer Space Telescope
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NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope observed a fledgling solar system like the one depicted in this artist's concept, and discovered deep within it enough water vapor to fill the oceans on Earth five times.
PIA09967:
Water's Early Journey in a Solar System (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (23.04 MB)     JPEG (336.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2007-08-29 NGC 1333 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This diagram illustrates the earliest journeys of water in a young, forming star system. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope was able to probe a crucial phase of this stellar evolution.
PIA09966:
Steamy Solar System
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (167.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2007-08-24 Helix Nebula Spitzer Space Telescope
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An expanded image of the Helix nebula lends a festive touch to the fourth anniversary of the launch of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
PIA09962:
Spitzer Celebrates Fourth Anniversary with Celestial Fireworks
Full Resolution:     TIFF (53.36 MB)     JPEG (2.378 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2007-07-11 HD 189733b Spitzer Space Telescope
 Infrared Spectrograph (IRS)
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This plot of data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope tells astronomers that a toasty gas exoplanet, or a planet beyond our solar system, contains water vapor.
PIA09715:
Exoplanet Forecast: Hot and Wet
Full Resolution:     TIFF (19.22 MB)     JPEG (259.2 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2007-05-09 HD 149026b Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept illustrates the hottest planet yet observed in the universe. The scorching ball of gas, a 'hot Jupiter' called HD 149026b, is about 3 times hotter than the rocky surface of Venus, the hottest planet in our solar system.
PIA09378:
Blacker than Black (Artist's Concept) Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (918 kB)     JPEG (12.32 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2007-05-09 HD 189733b Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
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Scientists using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope were able to create the first-ever map of the surface of a planet beyond our solar system. The planet, a hot and cloudy gas giant is called HD 189733b.
PIA09377:
How to Map a Very Faraway Planet (animation) Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (897.8 kB)     JPEG (11.68 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2007-05-09 HD 189733b Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
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This image shows the first-ever map of the surface of an exoplanet, or a planet beyond our solar system. Showing temperature variations across the cloudy tops of a gas giant called HD 189733b, the infrared data is taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
PIA09376:
First Map of Alien World (animation) Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (909.3 kB)     JPEG (23.38 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2007-03-29 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's image depicts a faraway solar system like our own except for one big difference. Planets and asteroids circle around not one, but two suns. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope found evidence that such solar systems may be common in the universe.
PIA09229:
Two Suns Raise Family of Planetary Bodies (Artist Animation) Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (309.2 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2007-03-29 Spitzer Space Telescope
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Observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have revealed that mature planetary systems -- dusty disks of asteroids, comets and possibly planets -- are more frequent around close-knit twin, or binary, stars than single stars like our sun.
PIA09228:
Alien Sunset (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (18 MB)     JPEG (239.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2007-02-21 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept, based on spectral observations from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope, shows a cloudy Jupiter-like planet that orbits very close to its fiery hot star.
PIA09200:
Exotic Atmospheres (Artist Concept) Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (257.1 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2007-02-21 Spitzer Space Telescope
 Infrared Spectrograph (IRS)
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This infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope -- called a spectrum -- tells astronomers that a distant gas planet, a so-called 'hot Jupiter' called HD 189733b, might be smothered with high clouds.
PIA09197:
Cracking the Code of Faraway Worlds
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (399.2 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2007-02-21 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This diagram illustrates how astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope can capture the elusive spectra of hot-Jupiter planets. Spectra are an object's light spread apart into its basic components, or wavelengths.
PIA09196:
How to Pluck a Spectrum from a Planet
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (298.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2007-01-26 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This is an artist's concept of a hypothetical 10-million-year-old star system. The bright blur at the center is a star much like our sun. The other orb in the image is a gas-giant planet like Jupiter.
PIA09117:
Gas Giants Form Quickly (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (205.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2006-10-27 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
Multiband Imaging Photometer (MIPS)
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This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows what astronomers are referring to as a 'snake' (upper left) and its surrounding stormy environment.
PIA01318:
Where Galactic Snakes Live
Full Resolution:     TIFF (20.7 MB)     JPEG (1.154 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2006-10-12 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept shows a Jupiter-like planet soaking up the scorching rays of its nearby 'sun.' This NASA Spitzer Space Telescope illustration portrays how the planet would appear to infrared eyes, showing temperature variations across its surface.
PIA01938:
Exotic World Blisters Under the Sun (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (23.07 MB)     JPEG (308.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2006-10-03 Spitzer Space Telescope
 MIPS
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The potential planet-forming disk (or 'protoplanetary disk') of a sun-like star is being violently ripped away by the powerful winds of a nearby hot O-type star in this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
PIA01319:
A Star's Close Encounter
Full Resolution:     TIFF (839.7 kB)     JPEG (43.53 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2006-04-05 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept depicts the pulsar planet system discovered by Aleksander Wolszczan in 1992. Wolszczan used the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico to find three planets circling a pulsar called PSR B1257+12.
PIA08042:
Extreme Planets (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (351.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2006-02-08 R 66 Spitzer Space Telescope
 Infrared Spectrometer (IRS)
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This illustration compares the size of a gargantuan star and its surrounding dusty disk (top) to that of our solar system. Monstrous disks like this one were discovered around two 'hypergiant' stars by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
PIA08006:
Supersized Disk (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (37.01 MB)     JPEG (435.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2006-01-11 G29-38 Spitzer Space Telescope
 Infrared Spectrometer (IRS)
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This artist's concept illustrates a comet being torn to shreds around a dead star, or white dwarf, called G29-38. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope observed a cloud of dust around this white dwarf that may have been generated from comet disruption.
PIA03652:
Comet 'Bites the Dust' Around Dead Star (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (298.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2005-12-20 IRS 46 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept illustrates a solar system that is a much younger version of our own. Dusty disks, like the one shown here circling the star, are thought to be the breeding grounds of planets, including rocky ones like Earth.
PIA03243:
Portrait of Our Dusty Past (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (361.6 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2005-07-01 Comet Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept depicts one of the most widely accepted theories pertaining to the origin of comets. This image is courtesy of NASA's Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.
PIA02107:
Genesis of a Comet (Artist's Concept) Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (943.1 kB)     JPEG (30.67 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2005-04-20 HD 69830 Spitzer Space Telescope
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Evidence for this possible belt was discovered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope when it spotted warm dust around the star, presumably from asteroids smashing together. This is an artist's concept.
PIA07854:
Band of Rubble (Artist Concept) Animation Icon
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Add Image to Favorite List 2005-04-20 HD 69830 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept shows what the night sky might look like from a hypothetical alien planet in a star system with an asteroid belt 25 times as massive as the one in our own solar system.
PIA07853:
Alien Asteroid Belt Compared to our Own (Artist Concept) Animation Icon
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Add Image to Favorite List 2005-04-20 HD 69830 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This graph of data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope demonstrates that the dust around a nearby star called HD 69830 (upper line) has a very similar composition to that of Comet Hale-Bopp.
PIA07852:
Super-Comet or Big Asteroid Belt?
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Add Image to Favorite List 2005-03-22 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept shows what a fiery hot star and its close-knit planetary companion might look close up if viewed in visible and infrared light .
PIA07490:
Blinded by the Light (Artist Concept)
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Add Image to Favorite List 2005-02-08 OTS 44 Spitzer Space Telescope
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NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope set its infrared eyes on an extraordinarily low-mass brown dwarf called OTS 44 and found a swirling disc of planet-building dust shown in this artist concept.
PIA07336:
'Mini-Me' Solar System (Artist Concept)
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Add Image to Favorite List 2005-01-11 Encke Spitzer Space Telescope
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This image taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the comet Encke riding along its pebbly trail of debris (long diagonal line) between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
PIA07222:
Riding a Trail of Debris
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Add Image to Favorite List 2004-12-09 Spitzer Space Telescope
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Bright, young disks can be imaged directly by visible-light telescopes, such as NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Older, fainter debris disks can be detected only by infrared telescopes like NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, which sense the disks' dim heat.
PIA07099:
The Evolution of a Planet-Forming Disk (Artist's Concept Animation) Animation Icon
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Add Image to Favorite List 2004-12-09 Spitzer Space Telescope
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NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope recently captured these infrared images of six older stars with known planets. The yellow, fuzzy blobs are stars circled by disks of dust, or 'debris disks,' like the one that surrounds our own Sun.
PIA07098:
Is There Anybody Home?
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Add Image to Favorite List 2004-12-09 Spitzer Space Telescope
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Artist's concept of a distant hypothetical solar system, about the same age as our own.
PIA07097:
A Distant Solar System (Artist's Concept Animation) Animation Icon
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Add Image to Favorite List 2004-12-09 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept depicts a distant hypothetical solar system, similar in age to our own. Looking inward from the system's outer fringes, a ring of dusty debris can be seen, and within it, planets circling a star the size of our Sun.
PIA07096:
A Distant Solar System (Artist's Concept)
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Add Image to Favorite List 2004-05-27 Spitzer Space Telescope
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In this artist's conception, a possible newfound planet spins through a clearing in a nearby star's dusty, planet-forming disc. This clearing was detected around the star CoKu Tau 4 by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
PIA05988:
Out of the Dust, A Planet is Born (Artist Concept)
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Add Image to Favorite List 2003-12-18 Spitzer Space Telescope
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NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has captured an image of an unusual comet that experiences frequent outbursts, which produce abrupt changes in brightness.
PIA04943:
Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann I
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Add Image to Favorite List 2003-12-18 Spitzer Space Telescope
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NASA Spitzer Space Telescope has obtained the first infrared images of the dust disc surrounding Fomalhaut, the 18th brightest star in the sky.
PIA04942:
Circumstellar Disk Around Fomalhaut
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Add Image to Favorite List 2003-05-15 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This image was used in a contest to rename the Space InfraRed Telescope Facility (SIRTF), now known as the Spitzer Space Telescope.
PIA04497:
Help Stamp Out Boring Space Acronyms
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