[FPSPACE] Spitzer Space Telescope article in December, 2005 issue of National Geographic

[LARRY KLAES]

Spitzer Space Telescope article in December, 2005 issue of National 
Geographic Magazine.

There's a lot hiding in the universe's dark corners. Interstellar dust 
clouds and inky stretches of deep space can appear dull to ordinary 
telescopes. But to a car-size telescope 26 million miles (42 million 
kilometers) from Earth, they are alive with light—infrared light, or heat 
rays. Since its launch in August 2003, says Robert Kennicutt, an astronomer 
at the University of Arizona, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope "has opened up 
half the universe to us."

In the process, it has exposed cosmic birthplaces. Stars take shape in 
clouds of gas and dust, and planets emerge in disks of debris around new 
stars. Early galaxies are also swathed in dust. Little visible light gets 
out, but these objects still emit heat—and infrared.

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0512/feature5/index.html