Best Telescope:Телескоп Гершель,OWL, JWST, greatest views

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/05/30/nasa-to-shut-down-spitzer-space-telescope-early-next-year/
ЦитироватьNASA to shut down Spitzer Space Telescope early next year
May 30, 2019Stephen Clark


This infrared view of the butterfly-shaped W40 nebula, a star-forming cloud of gas and dust 1,400 light-years from Earth, was captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

After a search for an outside funding source turned up empty, NASA plans to end observations with the Spitzer Space Telescope in January to conclude a 16-year mission that discovered exoplanets, studied galaxies in the ancient universe, and peered at planets and asteroids in our own solar system.

NASA quietly announced the plan to end Spitzer's observations in a blog post earlier this month. Astronomers hoped to keep Spitzer going until after the launch of the long-delayed James Webb Space Telescope, but the new observatory is now scheduled for launch in early 2021, and continues to dominate the budget for NASA's astrophysics division.

"On January 30, 2020, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope will transmit the final science and engineering data to mission control and then be commanded off, ending its amazing and surprising mission," wrote Lisa Storrie-Lombardi, Spitzer's project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Scientists will archive the final data from Spitzer for use by future scientists.

"But even after Spitzer ceases transmissions, scientists will continue making discoveries from its 16 years of data for decades to come," Storrie-Lombardi wrote. "Spitzer enables groundbreaking advances in our understanding of planetary systems around other stars, the evolution of galaxies in the nearby and distant universe, the structure of our Milky Way galaxy, the infinite variety in the lives of stars, and the constituents of our solar system."

A review of NASA's operating astrophysics missions by an independent panel of scientists in 2016 ranked Spitzer at the bottom of a list of six projects examined by the board. While the independent panel, called a senior review, did not recommend shutting down any of the operating missions, NASA uses the senior review reports to prioritize spending on extended missions, in balance with expenditures to design, develop and build new astrophysics probes and telescopes.

The 2016 senior review recommended NASA continue operating Spitzer until 2019, after the Webb telescope's then-scheduled launch date. Spitzer escape cancellation in 2014 after project managers found ways to reduce the mission's operating costs.

Thomas Zurbuchen, head of NASA's science division, said May 21 that agency followed guidance from the senior review in deciding when to shut down Spitzer.

"Every once in a while, that means that turn off a mission because the science return is no longer warranting keeping it going in the context of the other missions," Zurbuchen said during a meeting of the NASA Advisory Council's science committee. "It's not that there's no science return, but there's less."

Spitzer cost $11 million to operate in fiscal year 2018.

In 2017, NASA sought information from private entities, such as academic institutions, to take over Spitzer operations after NASA's funding for the mission ran out. Two organizations submitted proposals to assume responsibility for Spitzer, but they were unable to secure the required funding, according to Felicia Chou, a NASA spokesperson.

Chou said Spitzer, which is in an Earth-trailing orbit around the sun, can remain in its current orbit through the solar system after NASA turns off the mission. While the spacecraft and its instruments remain functional, the distance between Earth and Spitzer is increasing, which reduces the data flowing from the telescope.
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Artist's concept of the Spitzer Space Telescope. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Built by Lockheed Martin, Spitzer was the last of NASA's four original Great Observatories to launch, joining Hubble, the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Designed for a five-year mission, Spitzer launched on Aug. 25, 2003, aboard a Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral.

Spitzer launched with a supply of super-cold liquid helium to cool its most sensitive infrared detectors, which were designed to image some of the coldest reaches of the universe. Since 2009, Spitzer has only been able to use two of its shorter wavelength imaging bands after running out of cryogenic helium. Detectors in the near-infrared bands do not need to be chilled to do their work.

Zurbuchen said NASA is ending the Spitzer mission with a "sense of celebration for a mission that's exceeding any and all expectations."

"Spitzer's prime mission lasted more than twice the requirement, and I can assert with confidence that no one expected that the observatory would still be operating and doing exciting science in 2019, the tenth year of the extended mission," Storrie-Lombardi wrote.
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ЦитироватьWFIRST‏ @NASAWFIRST 31 мая

WFIRST's Instrument Carrier passed its design review this week! The carrier provides the structure for the telescope + instruments and allows for possible replacement of instruments once in orbit. This is the first major design review for the observatory's main components.


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ЦитироватьStars of Cepheus as Seen by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Опубликовано: 30 мая 2019 г.

Soar through this cosmic landscape filled with bright nebulas, as well as runaway, massive and young stars. The image comes from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, which sees the universe in infrared light.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7YQ-KvGbJQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7YQ-KvGbJQ (1:58)

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ЦитироватьWFIRST's Wide Field Instrument

NASA Goddard

Опубликовано: 26 июн. 2019 г.

In order to know how the universe will end, we must know what has happened to it so far. This is just one mystery NASA's forthcoming Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) mission will tackle as it explores the distant cosmos. The spacecraft's giant camera, the Wide Field Instrument (WFI), will be fundamental to this exploration.
Спойлер
The WFI has just passed its preliminary design review, an important milestone for the mission. It means the WFI successfully met the design, schedule and budget requirements to advance to the next phase of development, where the team will begin detailed design and fabrication of the flight hardware.

WFIRST is a next-generation space telescope that will survey the infrared universe from beyond the orbit of the Moon. Its two instruments are a technology demonstration called a coronagraph, and the WFI. The WFI features the same angular resolution as Hubble but with 100 times the field of view. Data it gathers will enable scientists to discover new and uniquely detailed information about planetary systems around other stars. The WFI will also map how matter is structured and distributed throughout the cosmos, which should ultimately allow scientists to discover the fate of the universe.

The WFI is designed to detect faint infrared light from across the universe. Infrared light is observed at wavelengths longer than the human eye can detect. The expansion of the universe stretches light emitted by distant galaxies, causing visible or ultraviolet light to appear as infrared by the time it reaches us. Such distant galaxies are difficult to observe from the ground because Earth's atmosphere blocks some infrared wavelengths, and the upper atmosphere glows brightly enough to overwhelm light from these distant galaxies. By going into space and using a Hubble-size telescope, the WFI will be sensitive enough to detect infrared light from farther than any previous telescope. This will help scientists capture a new view of the universe that could help solve some of its biggest mysteries, one of which is how the universe became the way it is now.

The WFI will allow scientists to peer very far back in time. Seeing the universe in its early stages will help scientists unravel how it expanded throughout its history. This will illuminate how the cosmos developed to its present condition, enabling scientists to predict how it will continue to evolve.

With its large field of view, the WFI will provide a wealth of information in each image it takes. This will dramatically reduce the amount of time needed to gather data, allowing scientists to conduct research that would otherwise be impractical.

With the successful completion of the WFI's preliminary design review, the WFIRST mission is on target for its planned launch in the mid-2020s. Scientists will soon be able to explore some of the biggest mysteries in the cosmos thanks to the WFI's wide field of view and precision optics.

Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scott Wiessinger (USRA)
- Claire Saravia: Public Affairs Officer
- Krystofer Kim (USRA): Animator
- Ashley Balzer: Science Writer
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0jxY8MihZMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0jxY8MihZM (1:47)

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ЦитироватьTake a Spin With NASA's WFIRST Spacecraft

 NASA Goddard

Опубликовано: 28 авг. 2019 г.

On schedule to launch in the mid-2020s, NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) mission will help uncover some of the biggest mysteries in the cosmos. The state-of-the-art telescope on the WFIRST spacecraft will play a significant role in this, providing the largest picture of the universe ever seen with the same depth and precision as the Hubble Space Telescope.
The telescope for WFIRST has successfully passed its preliminary design review, a major milestone for the mission. This means the telescope has met the performance, schedule, and budget requirements to advance to the next stage of development, where the team will finalize its design.
 
WFIRST is a high-precision survey mission that will advance our understanding of fundamental physics. WFIRST is similar to other space telescopes, like Spitzer and the James Webb Space Telescope, in that it will detect infrared light, which is invisible to human eyes. Earth's atmosphere absorbs infrared light, which presents challenges for observatories on the ground. WFIRST has the advantage of flying in space, above the atmosphere.
 
The WFIRST telescope will collect and focus light using a primary mirror that is 2.4 meters in diameter. While it's the same size as the Hubble Space Telescope's main mirror, it is only one-fourth the weight, showcasing an impressive improvement in telescope technology.
 
The mirror gathers light and sends it on to a pair of science instruments. The spacecraft's giant camera, the Wide Field Instrument (WFI), will enable astronomers to map the presence of mysterious dark matter, which is known only through its gravitational effects on normal matter. The WFI will also help scientists investigate the equally mysterious "dark energy," which causes the universe's expansion to accelerate. Whatever its nature, dark energy may hold the key to understanding the fate of the cosmos.
 
In addition, the WFI will survey our own galaxy to further our understanding of what planets orbit other stars, using the telescope's ability to sense both smaller planets and more distant planets than any survey before (planets orbiting stars beyond our Sun are called "exoplanets"). This survey will help determine whether our solar system is common, unusual, or nearly unique in the galaxy. The WFI will have the same resolution as Hubble, yet has a field of view that is 100 times greater, combining excellent image quality with the power to conduct large surveys that would take Hubble hundreds of years to complete.
 
WFIRST's Coronagraph Instrument (CGI) will directly image exoplanets by blocking out the light of their host stars. To date, astronomers have directly imaged only a small fraction of exoplanets, so WFIRST's advanced techniques will expand our inventory and enable us to learn more about them. Results from the CGI will provide the first opportunity to observe and characterize exoplanets similar to those in our solar system, located between three and 10 times Earth's distance from the Sun, or from about midway to Jupiter to about the distance of Saturn in our solar system. Studying the physical properties of exoplanets that are more similar to Earth will take us a step closer to discovering habitable planets.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YulCMpGs2LUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YulCMpGs2LU (3:01)

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ЦитироватьUnraveling the Mysteries of Dark Energy with NASA's WFIRST

 NASA Goddard

Опубликовано: 13 сент. 2019 г.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnSVBLXaoO8https://www.youtube.com/embed/wnSVBLXaoO8 (3:19)

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https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/nasa-s-wfirst-will-help-uncover-universe-s-fate
ЦитироватьSept. 13, 2019

NASA's WFIRST Will Help Uncover Universe's Fate


Artist's illustration of the WFIRST spacecraft.
Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Scientists have discovered that a mysterious pressure dubbed "dark energy" makes up about 68% of the total energy content of the cosmos, but so far we don't know much more about it. Exploring the nature of dark energy is one of the primary reasons NASA is building the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), a space telescope whose measurements will help illuminate the dark energy puzzle. With a better understanding of dark energy, we will have a better sense of the past and future evolution of the universe.

An Expanding Cosmos
Until the 20th century, most people believed that the universe was static, remaining essentially unchanged throughout eternity. When Einstein developed his general theory of relativity in 1915, describing how gravity acts across the fabric of space-time, he was puzzled to find that the theory indicated the cosmos must either expand or contract. He made changes to preserve a static universe, adding something he called the "cosmological constant," even though there was no evidence it actually existed. This mysterious force was supposed to counteract gravity to hold everything in place.

However, as the 1920s were coming to a close, astronomer Georges Lemaitre, and then Edwin Hubble, made the startling discovery that with very few exceptions, galaxies are racing away from each other. The universe was far from static — it was ballooning outward. Consequently, if we imagine rewinding this expansion, there must have been a time when everything in the universe was almost impossibly hot and close together.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/wnSVBLXaoO8
Scientists have discovered that a mysterious pressure dubbed "dark energy" makes up about 68% of the total energy content of the cosmos, but so far we don't know much more about it. Exploring the nature of dark energy is one of the primary reasons NASA is building the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), a space telescope whose measurements will help illuminate the dark energy puzzle. With a better understanding of dark energy, we will have a better sense of the past and future evolution of the universe.
Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Download this video in HD formats from NASA Goddard's Scientific Visualization Studio

The End of the Universe: Fire or Ice?

The Big Bang theory describes the expansion and evolution of the universe from this initial superhot, superdense state. Scientists theorized that gravity would eventually slow and possibly even completely reverse this expansion. If the universe had enough matter in it, gravity would overcome the expansion, and the universe would collapse in a fiery "big crunch."

If not, the expansion would never end — galaxies would grow farther and farther away until they pass the edge of the observable universe. Our distant descendants might have no knowledge of the existence of other galaxies since they would be too far away to be visible. Much of modern astronomy might one day be reduced to mere legend as the universe gradually fades to an icy black.

Astronomers have measured the rate of expansion by using ground-based telescopes to study relatively nearby supernova explosions. The mystery escalated in 1998 when Hubble Space Telescope observations of more distant supernovae helped show that the universe actually expanded more slowly in the past than it does today. The expansion of the universe is not slowing down due to gravity, as everyone thought. It's speeding up.

Fast forward to today. While we still don't know what exactly is causing the acceleration, it has been given a name — dark energy. This mysterious pressure remained undiscovered for so long because it is so weak that gravity overpowers it on the scale of humans, planets and even the galaxy. It is present in the room with you as you read, within your very body, but gravity counteracts it so you don't go flying out of your seat. It is only on an intergalactic scale that dark energy becomes noticeable, acting like a sort of weak opposition to gravity.

What Is Dark Energy?

What exactly is dark energy? More is unknown than known, but theorists are chasing down a couple of possible explanations. Cosmic acceleration could be caused by a new energy component, which would require some adjustments to Einstein's theory of gravity — perhaps the cosmological constant, which Einstein called his biggest blunder, is real after all.

Alternatively, Einstein's theory of gravity may break down on cosmological scales. If this is the case, the theory will need to be replaced with a new one that incorporates the cosmic acceleration we have observed. Theorists still don't know what the correct explanation is, but WFIRST will help us find out.

WFIRST Will Illuminate Dark Energy

Previous missions have gathered some clues, but so far they haven't yielded results that strongly favor one explanation over another. With the same resolution as Hubble's cameras but a field of view that is 100 times larger, WFIRST will generate never-before-seen big pictures of the universe. The new mission will advance the exploration of the dark energy mystery in ways that other telescopes can't by mapping how matter is structured and distributed throughout the cosmos, and also by measuring large numbers of distant supernovae. The results will indicate how dark energy acts across the universe, and whether and how it has changed over cosmic history.

The mission will use three survey methods to search for an explanation of dark energy.

The High Latitude Spectroscopic Survey will measure accurate distances and positions of millions of galaxies using a "standard ruler" technique. Measuring how the distribution of galaxies varies with distance will give us a window into the evolution of dark energy over time. This study will connect the galaxies' distances with the echoes of sound waves just after the big bang, and will test Einstein's theory of gravity over the age of the universe.

WFIRST will also conduct a survey of one type of exploding star, building on the observations that led to the discovery of accelerated expansion. Type Ia supernovae occur when white dwarf stars explode. Type Ia supernovae generally have the same absolute brightness at their peak, making them so-called "standard candles." That means astronomers can determine how far away they are by seeing how bright they look from Earth — and the farther they are, the dimmer they appear. Astronomers will also look at the particular wavelengths of light coming from the supernovae to find out how fast the dying stars are moving away from us. By combining distances with brightness measurements, scientists will see how dark energy has evolved over time, providing a cross-check with the two high-latitude surveys.

Additionally, the High Latitude Imaging Survey will measure the shapes and distances of multitudes of galaxies and galaxy clusters. The immense gravity of massive objects warps space-time and causes more distant galaxies to appear distorted. Observing the degree of distortion allows scientists to infer the distribution of mass throughout the cosmos. This includes all of the matter we can see directly, like planets and stars, as well as dark matter — another dark cosmic mystery which is visible only through its gravitational effects on normal matter. This survey will provide an independent measurement of the growth of large-scale structure in the universe and how dark energy has affected the cosmos.

"The WFIRST mission is unique in combining these three methods. It will lead to a very robust and rich interpretation of the effects of dark energy and will allow us to make a definite statement about the nature of dark energy," said Olivier Doré, research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and leader of the team planning the first two survey methods with WFIRST.

Discovering how dark energy has affected the universe's expansion in the past will shed some light on how it will influence the expansion in the future. If it continues to accelerate the universe's expansion, we may be destined to experience a "big rip." In this scenario, dark energy would eventually become dominant over the fundamental forces, causing everything that is currently bound together — galaxies, planets, people — to break apart. Exploring dark energy will allow us to investigate, and possibly even foresee, the universe's fate.

For more information about WFIRST, visit: www.nasa.gov/wfirst.

By Ashley Balzer
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
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Last Updated: Sept. 13, 2019
Editor: Rob Garner

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https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7503
ЦитироватьSEPTEMBER 24, 2019

WFIRST Space Telescope Fitted for 'Starglasses'


An optical engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, California, Camilo Mejia Prada, shines a light on the interior of a testbed for an instrument called a coronagraph that will fly aboard the WFIRST space telescope. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Matthew Luem 
› Larger view

When a new NASA space telescope opens its eyes in the mid-2020s, it will peer at the universe through some of the most sophisticated sunglasses ever designed.

This multi-layered technology, the coronagraph instrument, might more rightly be called "starglasses": a system of masks, prisms, detectors and even self-flexing mirrors built to block out the glare from distant stars - and reveal the planets in orbit around them.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/nUU1oCGoO9A?feature=oembed
When a new NASA space telescope opens its eyes in the mid 2020s, it will peer at the universe through some of the most sophisticated sunglasses ever designed.

Normally, that glare is overwhelming, blotting out any chance of seeing planets orbiting other stars, called exoplanets, said Jason Rhodes, the project scientist for the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

A star's photons - particles of light - vastly overpower any light coming from an orbiting planet when they hit the telescope.

"What we're trying to do is cancel out a billion photons from the star for every one we capture from the planet," Rhodes said.

And WFIRST's coronagraph just completed a major milestone: a preliminary design review by NASA. That means the instrument has met all design, schedule and budget requirements, and can now proceed to the next phase: building hardware that will fly in space. It's one of a series of such reviews examining every facet of the mission, said WFIRST Project Scientist Jeffrey Kruk of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

"Every one of these reviews is comprehensive," Kruk said. "We go over all aspects of the mission, to show that everything hangs together."

The WFIRST mission's coronagraph is meant to demonstrate the power of increasingly advanced technology. As it captures light directly from large, gaseous exoplanets, and from disks of dust and gas surrounding other stars, it will point the way to technologies for even larger space telescopes.

Future telescopes with even more sophisticated coronagraphs will be able to generate single pixel "images" of rocky planets the size of Earth. Then the light can be spread into a rainbow called a "spectrum," revealing which gases are present in the planet's atmosphere - perhaps oxygen, methane, carbon dioxide, and maybe even signs of life.

"With WFIRST we'll be able to get images and spectra of these large planets, with the goal of proving technologies that will be used in a future mission - to eventually look at small rocky planets that could have liquid water on their surfaces, or even signs of life, like our own," Rhodes said.

In this way, WFIRST is a kind of pioneer. That's why NASA considers the coronagraph to be a "technology demonstration." While it is likely to generate important scientific discoveries, its main job is to prove to the scientific community that complex coronagraphs really can work in space.

"This may be the most complicated astronomical instrument ever flown," Rhodes said.

Why This Coronagraph Is Different

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, in orbit since 1990, is so far the only NASA astrophysics flagship mission to include coronagraphs - far simpler and less sophisticated versions than will fly on WFIRST.

But by the time it launches in the mid 2020s, WFIRST will be the third such mission to include coronagraph technology. NASA's massive James Webb Space Telescope, launching in 2021, will include a coronagraph with a sharpness of vision greater than Hubble's, but without the starlight suppression capability of WFIRST.

"WFIRST should be two or three orders of magnitude more powerful than any other coronagraph ever flown" in its ability to distinguish a planet from its star, Rhodes said. "There should be a chance for some really compelling science, even though it's just a tech demo."

The two flexible mirrors inside the coronagraph are key components. As light that has traveled tens of light-years from an exoplanet enters the telescope, thousands of actuators move like pistons, changing the shape of the mirrors in real time. The flexing of these "deformable mirrors" compensates for tiny flaws and changes in the telescope's optics.

Changes on the mirrors' surfaces are so precise they can compensate for errors smaller than the width of a strand of DNA.

These mirrors, in tandem with high-tech "masks," another major advance, squelch the star's diffraction - the bending of light waves around the edges of light-blocking elements inside the coronagraph.

The result: blinding starlight is sharply dimmed, and faintly glowing, previously hidden planets appear.

The star-dimming technology also could deliver the clearest-ever images of distant star systems' formative years - when they are still swaddled in disks of dust and gas as infant planets take shape inside.

"The debris disks we see today around other stars are brighter and more massive than what we have in our own solar system," said Vanessa Bailey, an astronomer at JPL and instrument technologist for the WFIRST coronagraph. "WFIRST's coronagraph instrument could study fainter, more diffuse disk material that's more like the Main Asteroid Belt, the Kuiper Belt, and other dust orbiting the Sun."

That could yield deep insights into how our solar system formed.

Kruk said the instrument's deformable mirrors and other advanced technology - known as "active wavefront control" - should mean a leap of 100 to 1,000 times the capability of previous coronagraphs.

"When you see an opportunity like this to really open new frontiers in a new field, you can't help but be excited by that," he said.

Once the coronagraph technology is successfully demonstrated over the mission's first 18 months, WFIRST's coronagraph could become open to the scientific community. A "Participating Scientist Program" would invite a broader variety of observers to conduct experiments beyond the demonstration phase.

The coronagraph's advancement through the design review milestone is part of a development schedule now moving at a fast clip. A giant camera that will also fly on the spacecraft, called the Wide-Field Instrument, cleared the same hurdle in June. It is considered the space telescope's main instrument.

Rhodes likes to compare WFIRST to the history-making Mars Pathfinder mission. After landing on the Red Planet in 1997, the Pathfinder lander unleashed a small rover, named Sojourner, to trundle on its own around the landing site and examine nearby rocks.

"That was a tech demo," Rhodes said. "The goal was to show that a rover works on Mars. But it went on to do some very interesting science during its lifetime. So we're hopeful the same is going to be true of WFIRST's coronagraph tech demo."
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Written by Pat Brennan

2019-190

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https://nauka.tass.ru/nauka/6925929
Цитировать25 СЕН, 13:04
Инженеры NASA завершили работу над защитой для телескопа WFIRST
По словам разработчиков, это самый сложный астрономический инструмент, который когда-либо летал в космос

25 сентября, ТАСС. Американские инженеры завершили разработку так называемого коронографа - устройства, которое защитит высокочувствительную оптику инфракрасного телескопа WFIRST от лучей Солнца и других звезд. Оно поможет астрономам получить первые детальные фотографии планет у далеких светил, сообщила Лаборатория реактивного движения NASA.

"Этот коронограф будет самым сложным астрономическим инструментом, который когда-либо летал в космос. WFIRST получит первые спектры и изображения гигантских газовых планет у других звезд и покажет астрономическому сообществу, что это возможно. Последующие телескопы смогут увидеть небольшие каменистые планеты и, возможно, зафиксируют на них следы воды и жизни", - заявил научный руководитель проекта Джеффри Крук.

WFIRST (Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope, широкоугольный инфракрасный исследовательский телескоп) - шестая "великая обсерватория" NASA, которая в будущем должна стать заменой сразу для трех миссий - "Хаббла", инфракрасного телескопа WISE и строящейся обсерватории "Джеймс Уэбб". Согласно первоначальным планам космического агентства, ее постройка изначально должна была начаться в 2019 году, однако она была перенесена на несколько лет из-за неясного статуса проекта.

Власти США пытались значительно уменьшить бюджет проекта, который сейчас составляет 3,2 миллиарда долларов, и даже полностью закрыть его в 2018 и 2019 годах в связи с переориентацией на реализацию лунной программы Artemis. Подобные предложения вызвали протесты научного сообщества и многих конгрессменов и сенаторов, в результате чего проект удалось сохранить.

В начале сентября руководство NASA одобрило предварительные планы по постройке WFIRST. В ближайшее время они будут окончательно подтверждены, что позволит инженерам и ученым приступить к разработке всех научных инструментов и сборке миссии.

Изучать свойства экзопланет
Как сообщает сайт Лаборатории реактивного движения NASA, два главных научных компонента WFIRST - широкоугольная камера WFI и коронограф - уже прошли почти все предварительные стадии разработки и готовы к сборке летных экземпляров этих инструментов.

Первый прибор позволит этому инфракрасному телескопу искать следы темной энергии - субстанции, которая заставляет Вселенную расширяться все быстрее и быстрее, а второй - получать фотографии и изучать свойства относительно крупных экзопланет, сопоставимых по размеру с Юпитером.

Как отмечает Крук, коронограф WFIRST представляет собой набор из нескольких светонепроницаемых ширм и двух миниатюрных гибких зеркал, чья поверхность может менять свою форму по команде ученых. Бортовой компьютер будет подстраивать геометрию их поверхности таким образом, что прибор сможет "удалять" свет далеких звезд с картинки. Это позволит увидеть планеты, которые вращаются вокруг них.

Это далеко не первый космический коронограф. Более простые версии подобных приборов установлены на "Хаббле" и некоторых других орбитальных обсерваториях. Благодаря адаптивным зеркалам и другим новым технологиям WFIRST будет превосходить их на несколько порядков в этом отношении.

Астрономы надеются, что это позволит не только получить первые фотографии крупных экзопланет и изучить их химический состав, но и увидеть облака из комет, астероидов, газа и пыли, подобные главному поясу астероидов или облаку Оорта в Солнечной системе, окружающие далекие светила. Кроме того, они предполагают, что их изучение прояснит историю рождения Земли и всей Солнечной системы в целом.
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https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/wfirst-will-add-pieces-to-the-dark-matter-puzzle
ЦитироватьOct. 31, 2019

WFIRST Will Add Pieces to the Dark Matter Puzzle

The true nature of dark matter is one of the biggest mysteries in the universe. Scientists are trying to determine what exactly dark matter is made of so they can detect it directly, but our current understanding has so many gaps, it's difficult to know just what we're looking for. WFIRST's ability to survey wide swaths of the universe will help us figure out what dark matter could be made of by exploring the structure and distribution of both matter and dark matter across space and time.


Entangled among the galaxies in this Hubble image are mysterious-looking arcs of blue light. These are actually distorted images of remote galaxies behind the cluster. The collective gravity of all the normal and dark matter trapped inside the cluster warps space-time and affects light traveling through the cluster toward Earth.
Credits: NASA, ESA, and J. Lotz and the HFF Team (STScI)

Why is dark matter such a perplexing topic? Scientists first suspected its existence over 80 years ago when Swiss-American astronomer Fritz Zwicky observed that galaxies in the Coma cluster were moving so quickly they should have been flung away into space — yet they remained gravitationally bound to the cluster by unseen matter. Then in the 1970s, American astronomer Vera Rubin discovered the same type of problem in individual spiral galaxies. Stars toward the edge of the galaxy move too fast to be held in by the galaxy's luminous matter — there must be much more matter than we can see in these galaxies to hold the stars in orbit. Ever since these discoveries, scientists have been trying to piece together the puzzle using sparse clues.

There is currently a wide range of dark matter candidates. We don't even have a very good idea what the mass of dark matter particles might be, which makes it difficult to work out how best to search for them. WFIRST's wide-field surveys will provide a comprehensive look at the distribution of galaxies and galaxy clusters across the universe in the most detailed dark matter studies ever undertaken, thanks to dark matter's gravitational effects. These surveys will yield new insight into the fundamental nature of dark matter, which will enable scientists to hone their searching techniques.

Most theories of the nature of dark matter particles suggest they almost never interact with normal matter. Even if someone dropped a huge chunk of dark matter on your head, you would probably perceive nothing. You wouldn't have any means of detecting its presence — all of your senses are moot when it comes to dark matter. You wouldn't even stop it from hurtling straight through your body and on toward Earth's core.

This doesn't happen to regular matter, such as cats or people, because forces between the atoms in the ground and the atoms in our bodies prevent us from falling through Earth's surface, but dark matter behaves strangely. Dark matter is so inconspicuous it is even invisible to telescopes that observe the cosmos in forms of light our eyes can't see, from radio waves to high-energy gamma rays.

"Lensing" dark matter

If dark matter is invisible, how do we know it exists? While dark matter doesn't interact with normal matter in most cases, it does affect it gravitationally (which is how it was first discovered decades ago), so we can map its presence by looking at clusters of galaxies, the most massive structures in the universe.


This Hubble Space Telescope mosaic shows a portion of the immense Coma galaxy cluster — containing more than 1,000 galaxies — located 300 million light-years away. The rapid motion of its galaxies was the first clue that dark matter existed.
Credits: NASA, ESA, J. Mack (STScI) and J. Madrid (Australian Telescope National Facility

Light always travels in a straight line, but space-time — the fabric of the universe — is curved by concentrations of mass within it. So when light passes by a mass, its path curves as well: a straight line in a curved space. Light that would normally pass near a galaxy cluster instead bends toward and around it, producing intensified — and sometimes multiple — images of the background source. This process, called strong gravitational lensing, transforms galaxy clusters into colossal natural telescopes that give us a glimpse of distant cosmic objects that would normally be too faint to be visible.

Since more matter leads to stronger lensing effects, gravitational lensing observations provide a way to determine the location and quantity of matter in galaxy clusters. Scientists have discovered that all of the visible matter we see in galaxy clusters isn't nearly enough to create the observed warping effects. Dark matter provides the surplus gravity.

Scientists have confirmed earlier observations by measuring how much matter in the very early universe is "normal" and how much is "dark" using experiments like NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). Even though normal matter makes up everything we can see, the universe must contain more than five times as much dark matter to fit the observations.

WFIRST will build on previous dark matter studies by using so-called weak gravitational lensing that tracks how smaller clumps of dark matter warp the apparent shapes of more distant galaxies. Observing lensing effects on this more refined scale will enable scientists to fill in more of the gaps in our understanding of dark matter.

The mission will measure the locations and quantities of both normal matter and dark matter in hundreds of millions of galaxies. Throughout cosmic history, dark matter has driven how stars and galaxies formed and evolved. If dark matter consists of heavy, sluggish particles, it would clump together readily and WFIRST should see galaxy formation early in cosmic history. If dark matter is made up of lighter, faster-moving particles, it should take longer to settle into clumps and for large-scale structures to develop.

WFIRST's gravitational lensing studies will allow us to peer back in time to trace how galaxies and galaxy clusters formed under the influence of dark matter. If astronomers can narrow down the candidates for dark matter particles, we'll be one step closer to finally detecting them directly in experiments on Earth.

By Ashley Balzer
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center


Last Updated: Oct. 31, 2019
Editor: Lynn Jenner

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ЦитироватьSimulated Image Shows the Power of NASA's WFIRST

NASA Goddard

5 янв. 2020 г.

NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope, WFIRST, will capture the equivalent of 100 high-resolution Hubble images in a single shot, imaging large areas of the sky 1,000 times faster than Hubble. In several months, WFIRST could survey as much of the sky in near-infrared light—in just as much detail—as Hubble has over its entire three decades.
Although WFIRST has not yet opened its wide, keen eyes on the universe, astronomers are already running simulations to demonstrate what it will be able to see and plan their observations.

This simulated image of a portion of our neighboring galaxy Andromeda (M31) provides a preview of the vast expanse and fine detail that can be covered with just a single pointing of WFIRST. Using information gleaned from hundreds of Hubble observations, the simulated image covers a swath roughly 34,000 light-years across, showcasing the red and infrared light of more than 50 million individual stars detectable with WFIRST.

While it may appear to be a somewhat haphazard arrangement of 18 separate images, the simulation actually represents a single shot. Eighteen square detectors, 16-megapixels each, make up WFIRST's Wide Field Instrument (WFI) and give the telescope its unique window into space.

With each pointing, WFIRST will cover an area roughly 1⅓ times that of the full Moon. By comparison, each individual infrared Hubble image covers an area less than 1% of the full Moon.

WFIRST is designed to collect the big data needed to tackle essential questions across a wide range of topics, including dark energy, exoplanets, and general astrophysics spanning from our solar system to the most distant galaxies in the observable universe. Over its 5-year planned lifetime, WFIRST is expected to amass more than 20 petabytes of information on thousands of planets, billions of stars, millions of galaxies, and the fundamental forces that govern the cosmos.

For astronomers like Ben Williams of the University of Washington in Seattle, who generated the simulated data set for this image, WFIRST will provide a valuable opportunity to understand large nearby objects like Andromeda, which are otherwise extremely time-consuming to image because they are so big on the sky.

WFIRST could survey Andromeda nearly 1,500 times faster than Hubble, building a panorama of the main disk of the galaxy in just a few hours.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvf72tJihPYhttps://www.youtube.com/embed/Cvf72tJihPY (2:42)

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https://tass.ru/kosmos/7584371
Цитировать22 ЯНВ, 23:02
Телескоп Spitzer прекращает работу из-за запуска James Webb
Миссии аппаратов будут схожими

ТАСС, 22 января. Решение прекратить работу орбитального инфракрасного телескопа Spitzer, одной из четырех "великих обсерваторий" NASA, связано со скорым запуском аппарата James Webb, который будет исполнять схожие функции. Об этом сообщили участники миссии на брифинге, проходившем в Лаборатории реактивного движения NASA в Пасадене.

"Изначально мы планировали, что телескоп Spitzer завершит свою работу примерно в тот же момент, когда на орбиту будет выведена обсерватория James Webb, способная исполнять схожие задачи. Из-за всех задержек, связанных с его постройкой, нам пришлось продлить работу Spitzer. Через год James Webb будет запущен, и в дальнейшей работе Spitzer теперь нет необходимости", - сказал Пол Герц глава Астрофизического департамента NASA.

Как отметил ученый, отвечая на вопросы журналистов, NASA готовит запуск еще одной "большой" инфракрасной обсерватории, телескоп WFIRST. Он будет обладать рекордно широким полем зрения и очень высокой чувствительностью, что позволит ему компенсировать все пробелы, которые возникнут в научной программе NASA после выключения Spitzer.

Это знаменательно событие, по словам другого специалиста NASA, Джозефа Ханта, руководителя проекта Spitzer, состоится через неделю, 29 января. В этот день телескоп передаст последние научные данные, после чего исполнит серию команд, которые переведут космический аппарат в спящий режим. В последний раз Spitzer свяжется с Землей в предпоследний день января.

Данное решение, как добавил Герц, связано не только с запуском двух новых обсерваторий, но и тем, что работой Spitzer все тяжелее управлять. Дело в том, что данный телескоп вращается вокруг Солнца по необычной орбите, почти идеально повторяющей траекторию движения Земли. Обсерватория NASA движется несколько медленнее, чем наша планета, из-за чего она постепенно "отстает" от нее.

В результате этого ей становится все тяжелее удерживать положение, в котором она могла бы одновременно передавать данные на Землю, заряжать аккумуляторы и при этом не "слепнуть" от света Солнца. Пока это не сильно мешает ее работе, однако в ближайшие месяцы, по словам Ханта, жизнь Spitzer резко усложнится. По этой причине он не считает, что в будущем NASA сможет расконсервировать обсерваторию, даже если уникальные системы связи с ней не будут уничтожены после прекращения работы проекта.

Последняя "великая обсерватория" NASA

Инфракрасный телескоп Spitzer относится к числу так называемых "великих обсерваторий" NASA - дорогих и мощных космических телескопов, запущенных космическим агентством США на рубеже веков для полного покрытия всех типов электромагнитного излучения. Первым из них был Hubble, наблюдающий за космосом в видимой и ультрафиолетовой части спектра, а последней - инфракрасный Spitzer, запущенный в 2003 году.

В отличие от Hubble и Chandra, способных беспрерывно работать в космосе десятилетиями до износа их гироскопов, сроки работы Spitzer были жестко ограничены. Это было связано с тем, что его светочувствительные матрицы охлаждались жидким гелием, чьи запасы подошли к концу в мае 2009 года из-за того, что сжиженный благородный газ легко просачивается через любые материалы.

Результатом этого стало то, что Spitzer частично "ослеп" и потерял способность получать снимки высокого качества в дальней части инфракрасного спектра. Несмотря на это, Spitzer удалось совершить множество интересных открытий и до исчерпания гелия, и даже после этого. В частности, он открыл последнее, самое большое кольцо Сатурна и несколько планет у других звезд, составил карты атмосферы этих миров, изучил несколько новорожденных светил и раскрыл структуру магнитных полей в центре Галактики.

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ЦитироватьScience In A Minute: The Art of Spitzer Space Telescope

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

22 янв. 2020 г.

How do scientists turn data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope into the incredible images we see? It's not as simple as just snapping a picture of the universe. There is a process for gathering the data from Spitzer and coding it so that colors and pictures can emerge from the data. The process can be lengthy, but well worth the breathtaking images we receive in the end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO44cfYIlC8https://www.youtube.com/embed/oO44cfYIlC8 (1:24)

ЦитироватьScience In A Minute: What is Infrared Light?

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

22 янв. 2020 г.

What is infrared light and how do we use it to study the universe? Infrared radiation, or infrared light, is a type of energy that we humans can't see but can feel as heat. All objects in the universe emit some level of infrared radiation, whether hot or cold, making an infrared telescope like NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope very useful in detecting objects that might seem invisible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?XCD6fAHc97chttps://www.youtube.com/embed/XCD6fAHc97c (1:34)

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ЦитироватьNASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (Mission Overview)

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

15 янв. 2020 г.

After 16 years of unveiling the infrared universe, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has left a singular legacy.  As one of NASA's four Great Observatories -- a series of powerful telescopes including Hubble, Chandra and Compton that can observe the cosmos in different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum --Spitzer quickly became a pioneer in the exploration of the worlds beyond our human vision. From stars being born to planets beyond our solar system (like the seven Earth-size planets around the star TRAPPIST-1), Spitzer's science discoveries will continue to inspire the world for many years to come.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghnnbMWVtWUhttps://www.youtube.com/embed/ghnnbMWVtWU (4:05)

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https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-celebrates-the-legacy-of-the-spitzer-space-telescope
ЦитироватьJan. 22, 2020

NASA Celebrates the Legacy of the Spitzer Space Telescope


In this artist's rendering of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope in space, the background is shown in infrared light.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Full image and caption

Read more about Spitzer and its legacy with this handy toolkit.

NASA is celebrating the legacy of one of its Great Observatories, the Spitzer Space Telescope, which has studied the universe in infrared light for more than 16 years. The Spitzer mission will come to a close on Jan. 30.

Launched in 2003, Spitzer revealed previously hidden features of known cosmic objects and led to discoveries and insights spanning from our own solar system to nearly the edge of the universe.

"Spitzer taught us how important infrared light is to understanding our universe, both in our own cosmic neighborhood and as far away as the most distant galaxies," said Paul Hertz, director of astrophysics at NASA Headquarters. "The advances we make across many areas in astrophysics in the future will be because of Spitzer's extraordinary legacy."

Spitzer was designed to study "the cold, the old and the dusty," three things astronomers can observe particularly well in infrared light. Infrared light refers to a range of wavelengths on the infrared spectrum, from those measuring about 700 nanometers (too small to see with the naked eye) to about 1 millimeter (about the size of the head of a pin). Different infrared wavelengths can reveal different features of the universe. For example, Spitzer can see things too cold to emit much visible light, including exoplanets (planets outside our solar system), brown dwarfs and cold matter found in the space between stars.

As for "the old," Spitzer has studied some of the most distant galaxies ever detected. The light from some of them has traveled for billions of years to reach us, enabling scientists to see those objects as they were long, long ago. In fact, working together, Spitzer and the Hubble Space Telescope (which observes primarily in visible light and at shorter infrared wavelengths than those detected by Spitzer) identified and studied the most distant galaxy observed to date. The light we see from that galaxy was emitted 13.4 billion years ago, when the universe was less than 5% of its current age.


The Spitzer Space Telescope (formerly the Space Infrared Telescope Facility or SIRTF) is readied for launch at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, in 2003.
Credits: NASA
Full image and caption

Among other things, the two observatories found that such early galaxies are heavier than scientists expected. And by studying galaxies closer to us, Spitzer has deepened our understanding of how galaxy formation has evolved during the universe's lifetime.

Spitzer also has a keen eye for interstellar dust, which is prevalent throughout most galaxies. Mixed with gas in massive clouds, it can condense to form stars, and the remains can give birth to planets. With a technique called spectroscopy, Spitzer can analyze the chemical composition of dust to learn about the ingredients that form planets and stars.

In 2005, after NASA's Deep Impact mission intentionally slammed into Comet Tempel 1, the telescope analyzed the dust that was kicked up, providing a list of materials that would have been present in the early solar system. What's more, Spitzer found a previously undetected ring around Saturn, composed of sparse dust particles that visible-light observatories can't see.


The magnificent spiral arms of the nearby galaxy Messier 81 are highlighted in this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Located in the northern constellation of Ursa Major, this galaxy is located about 12 million light-years from Earth.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Full image and caption

In addition, some infrared wavelengths of light can penetrate dust when visible light cannot, allowing Spitzer to reveal regions that would otherwise remain obscured from view.

"It's quite amazing when you lay out everything that Spitzer has done in its lifetime, from detecting asteroids in our solar system no larger than a stretch limousine to learning about some of the most distant galaxies we know of," said Michael Werner, Spitzer's project scientist.

To deepen their scientific insights, Spitzer scientists have frequently combined their findings with those of many other observatories, including two of NASA's other Great Observatories, Hubble and the Chandra X-ray Observatory.


This image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows hundreds of thousands of stars crowded into the swirling core of our spiral Milky Way galaxy. In this image, old and cool stars are blue, while dust features lit up by blazing hot, massive stars are shown in a reddish hue.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Full image and caption

Other Worlds

Some of Spitzer's greatest scientific discoveries, including those regarding exoplanets, weren't part of the mission's original science goals. The team used a technique called the transit method, which looks for a dip in a star's light that results when a planet passes in front of it, to confirm the presence of two Earth-size planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system. Then Spitzer discovered another five Earth-size planets in the same system — and provided crucial information about their densities — amounting to the largest batch of terrestrial exoplanets ever discovered around a single star.

One of the first observatories to distinguish the light coming directly from an exoplanet, Spitzer harnessed the same capability for another first: detecting molecules in the atmosphere of an exoplanet. (Previous studies had revealed individual chemical elements in exoplanet atmospheres.) And it provided the first measurements of temperature variations and wind in an exoplanet atmosphere as well.

"When Spitzer was being designed, scientists had not yet found a single transiting exoplanet, and by the time Spitzer launched, we still knew about only a handful," said Sean Carey, manager of the Spitzer Science Center at IPAC at Caltech in Pasadena, California. "The fact that Spitzer became such a powerful exoplanet tool, when that wasn't something the original planners could have possibly prepared for, is really profound. And we generated some results that absolutely knocked our socks off."


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. Called "Rho Oph" by astronomers, it's one of the closest star-forming regions to our own solar system, about 407 light-years from Earth.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Full image and caption

Keeping Cool

One of Spitzer's major strengths is its sensitivity — that is, its ability to detect very faint sources of infrared light. Earth is a major source of infrared radiation, and trying to see faint infrared sources from the ground is like trying to observe stars while the Sun is up. That's a major reason why Spitzer's designers made it the first astrophysics observatory in an Earth-trailing orbit: Far from our planet's heat, Spitzer's detectors wouldn't have to contend with our planet's own infrared radiation.

Different infrared wavelengths can reveal different features of the universe. Some ground telescopes can observe in certain infrared wavelengths and provide valuable scientific insights, but Spitzer can achieve greater sensitivity than even much larger ground telescopes and see much fainter sources, such as extremely distant galaxies. What's more, it was designed to detect some infrared wavelengths that Earth's atmosphere entirely blocks, rendering those wavelengths beyond the reach of ground-based observatories.

Spacecraft can generate infrared heat too, so Spitzer was designed to stay cool, operating at temperatures as low as minus 450 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 267 degrees Celsius). In 2009, Spitzer exhausted its supply of helium coolant, marking the end of its "cold mission." But Spitzer's great distance from Earth has helped keep it from warming up too much — it still operates at about minus 408 degrees Fahrenheit (or minus 244 degrees Celsius) — and mission team members found they could continue observing in two infrared wavelengths. Spitzer's "warm mission" has lasted for over a decade, nearly twice as long as its cold mission.

The original mission planners didn't expect Spitzer to operate for 16-plus years. This extended lifetime has led to some of Spitzer's most profound science results but has also posed challenges as the spacecraft drifts farther from Earth.

"It wasn't in the plan to have Spitzer operating so far away from Earth, so the team has had to adapt year after year to keep the spacecraft operating," said Joseph Hunt, Spitzer project manager. "But I think overcoming that challenge has given people a great sense of pride in the mission. This mission stays with you."

On Jan. 30, 2020, engineers will decommission the Spitzer spacecraft and cease science operations. During the 2016 NASA Senior Review process, the agency made a decision to close out the Spitzer mission. The closeout was initially planned for 2018 in anticipation of the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, which will also conduct infrared astronomy. When Webb's launch was postponed, the Spitzer mission was granted its fifth and final extension. These mission extensions have given Spitzer additional time to continue producing transformative science including pathfinding work for Webb.

JPL manages and conducts mission operations for the Spitzer mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at IPAC at Caltech. Spacecraft operations are based at Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive housed at IPAC at Caltech. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

2020-013

Last Updated: Jan. 22, 2020
Editor: Tony Greicius

Чебурашка

JWST опять собираются передвинуть. http://spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=53234

ЦитироватьThe project is now managing to a March 2021 launch date but estimates only a 12 percent likelihood that this date will be achieved. NASA plans to reassess the launch date in the spring of 2020.

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https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-spitzer-space-telescope-ends-mission-of-astronomical-discovery
ЦитироватьJan. 31, 2020
RELEASE 20-010

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope Ends Mission of Astronomical Discovery


NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has concluded after more than 16 years of exploring the universe in infrared light.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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

Mission engineers confirmed at 2:30 p.m. PST (5:30 p.m. EST) Thursday the spacecraft was placed in safe mode, ceasing all science operations. After the decommissioning was confirmed, Spitzer Project Manager Joseph Hunt declared the mission had officially ended.

Launched in 2003, Spitzer was one of NASA's four Great Observatories, along with the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. The Great Observatories program demonstrated the power of using different wavelengths of light to create a fuller picture of the universe.

"Spitzer has taught us about entirely new aspects of the cosmos and taken us many steps further in understanding how the universe works, addressing questions about our origins, and whether or not are we alone," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "This Great Observatory has also identified some important and new questions and tantalizing 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."

Among its many scientific contributions, Spitzer studied comets and asteroids in our own solar system and found a previously unidentified ring around Saturn. It studied star and planet formation, the evolution of galaxies from the ancient universe to today, and the composition of interstellar dust. It also proved to be a powerful tool for detecting exoplanets and characterizing 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.

In 2016, following a review of operating astrophysics missions, NASA made a decision to close out the Spitzer mission in 2018 in anticipation of the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, which also will observe the universe in infrared light. When Webb's launch was postponed, Spitzer was granted an extension to continue operations until this year. This gave Spitzer additional time to continue producing transformative science, including insights that will pave the way for Webb, which is scheduled to launch in 2021.

"Everyone who has worked on this mission should be extremely proud today," Hunt said. "There are literally hundreds of people who contributed directly to Spitzer's success, and thousands who used its scientific capabilities to explore the universe. We leave behind a powerful scientific and technological legacy."


Spitzer Project Scientist Joseph Hunt stands in Mission Control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, on Jan. 30, 2020, declaring the spacecraft decommissioned and the Spitzer mission concluded.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Keeping Cool

Though it was not NASA's first space-based infrared telescope, Spitzer was the most sensitive infrared telescope in history when it launched, and it delivered a deeper and more far-reaching view of the infrared cosmos than its predecessors. Above Earth's atmosphere, Spitzer could detect some wavelengths that cannot be observed from the ground. The spacecraft's Earth-trailing orbit placed it far away from our planet's infrared emissions, which also gave Spitzer better sensitivity than was possible for larger telescopes on Earth.

Spitzer's prime mission came to an end in 2009, when the telescope exhausted its supply of the liquid helium coolant necessary for operating two of its three instruments – the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) and Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS). The mission was deemed a success, having achieved all of its primary science objectives and more. But Spitzer's story wasn't over. Engineers and scientists were able to keep the mission going using only two out of four wavelength channels on the third instrument, the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC). Despite increasing engineering and operations challenges, Spitzer continued to produce transformational science for another 10 1/2 years – far longer than mission planners anticipated.

During its extended mission, Spitzer continued to make significant scientific discoveries. In 2014, it detected evidence of asteroid collisions in a newly formed planetary system, providing evidence that such smash-ups might be common in early solar systems and crucial to the formation of some planets. In 2016, Spitzer worked with Hubble to image the most distant galaxy ever detected. From 2016 onward, Spitzer studied the TRAPPIST-1 system for more than 1,000 hours. All of Spitzer's data are free and available to the public in the Spitzer data archive. Mission scientists say they expect researchers to continue making discoveries with Spitzer long after the spacecraft's decommissioning.

"I think that Spitzer is an example of the very best that people can achieve," said Spitzer Project Scientist Michael Werner. "I feel very fortunate to have worked on this mission, and to have seen the ingenuity, doggedness and brilliance that people on the team showed. When you tap into those things and empower people to use them, then truly incredible things will happen."

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, conducts mission operations and manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech in Pasadena. Spacecraft operations are based at Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive housed at IPAC at Caltech. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale, California, built the Spitzer spacecraft, and during development served as lead for systems and engineering, and integration and testing. Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation in Boulder, Colorado provided the optics, cryogenics and thermal shells and shields for Spitzer.

Ball developed the IRS instrument, with science leadership based at Cornell University, and the MIPS instrument, with science leadership based at the University of Arizona in Tucson. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, developed the IRAC instrument, with science leadership based at the Harvard Smithsonian Astrophysics Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

View some of the amazing images showcasing some of Spitzer's greatest discoveries at:


-end-

Last Updated: Jan. 31, 2020
Editor: Sean Potter

tnt22

Цитировать NASA Spitzer✔@NASAspitzer 2:20 AM - Jan 31, 2020

At 2:34 pm PST on Jan. 30, 2020, Spitzer Project Manager Joseph Hunt declared the Spitzer spacecraft decommissioned.

Farewell, Spitzer. Thank you for the great science. #SpitzerFinalVoyagehttps://go.nasa.gov/2vBoaKO


Jonathan McDowell✔@planet4589 2:39 AM - Jan 31, 2020

SIRTF, the Space Infrared Telescope Facility, was launched in Aug 2003. In Dec 2003 it was renamed the Spitzer Space Telescope, the 4th and last of the Great Observatories program. After 16 years of great science, Spitzer entered final safemode and fell silent at 2220 UTC Jan 30


Janice Lee@janiceleeastro 1:37 AM - Jan 31, 2020

Loss of signal confirmed at 22:30:31 #SpitzerFinalVoyage




Jonathan McDowell✔@planet4589 3:08 AM - Jan 31, 2020

Update: based on report that loss of signal was detected on Earth at 2230:31 UTC, Spitzer turned itself off at 2215:45 UTC.

tnt22

https://tass.ru/kosmos/7654271
Цитировать31 ЯНВ, 13:22
Телескоп Spitzer официально завершил свою работу
В 1:30 мск инженеры отправили на Spitzer последний пакет команд, который перевел телескоп в безопасный режим и отключил все системы связи с Землей

МОСКВА, 31 января. /ТАСС/. Научная команда космического телескопа Spitzer заявила об официальном завершении работы четвертой "великой обсерватории" NASA после успешного перевода телескопа в безопасный режим и прекращения приема научных данных. Об этом сообщила в пятницу пресс-служба Лаборатории реактивного движения NASA (JPL).

"Телескоп Spitzer открыл для нас совершенно новую сторону космоса. Он помог нам продвинуться в понимании того, как работает Вселенная, а также позволил приблизиться к раскрытию тайны зарождения жизни на Земле. Научное наследие этой "великой обсерватории" продолжит приносить пользу и после завершения миссии", - заявил заместитель руководителя научного подразделения NASA Томас Цурбухен, чьи слова приводит пресс-служба JPL.

Неделю назад представители NASA и руководство миссии Spitzer заявили о том, что работа этой космической обсерватории будет официально завершена в конце января в связи с нарастающими сложностями в управлении космическим аппаратом, а также скорым запуском телескопа James Webb, который будет решать схожие научные задачи.

В ночь с четверга на пятницу, как сообщает JPL, эти планы были успешно реализованы. В 1:30 мск инженеры отправили на Spitzer последний пакет команд, который перевел телескоп в безопасный режим и отключил все системы связи с Землей. Последние научные данные были успешно переданы за день до этого, 29 января.

Последняя "великая обсерватория" NASA

Инфракрасный телескоп Spitzer относится к числу так называемых "великих обсерваторий" NASA - дорогих и мощных космических телескопов, запущенных космическим агентством США на рубеже веков для полного покрытия всех типов электромагнитного излучения. Первым из них был Hubble, наблюдающий за космосом в видимой и ультрафиолетовой части спектра, а последней - инфракрасный Spitzer, запущенный в 2003 году.

В отличие от Hubble и "Чандры", способных беспрерывно работать в космосе десятилетиями до износа их гироскопов, сроки работы Spitzer были жестко ограничены. Это было связано с тем, что его светочувствительные матрицы охлаждались жидким гелием, чьи запасы подошли к концу в мае 2009 года из-за того, что сжиженный благородный газ легко просачивается через любые материалы.

Результатом этого стало то, что Spitzer частично "ослеп" и потерял способность получать снимки высокого качества в дальней части инфракрасного спектра. Несмотря на это, Spitzer удалось совершить множество интересных открытий и до исчерпания гелия, и даже после этого. В частности, он открыл последнее, самое большое кольцо Сатурна и несколько планет у других звезд, составил карты атмосферы этих миров, изучил несколько новорожденных светил и раскрыл структуру магнитных полей в центре Галактики.