What Is Spitzer Doing Now?

How To Read This Chart

Target Name: This is the name of the object being observed by Spitzer. The name appears as it was input by the observer, and will usually appear as a unique, universally accepted catalog designation rather than a "name" in the traditional sense of the word.

RA & Declination: These are the coordinates in the sky where the object is located. They work much like longitude and latitude on Earth. RA is the object's position along the equator, and Declination is its position north or south (positive numbers are the northern sky, and negative numbers are the southern sky).

Program Name: When astronomers are granted observing time on Spitzer, their planned observations are defined under a unique program name. Each program has specific goals and objectives, such as the various Legacy Science programs, whose objective is to create a substantial and coherent database of archived observations that can be used by subsequent Spitzer researchers.

Principal Investigator: This is the name of the scientist who leads the team of people who are making the observation on Spitzer.

AOT: This is the specific observing mode that Spitzer is using for its observation. Spitzer has three different instruments (IRAC - The Infrared Array Camera, IRS - The Infrared Spectrograph, and MIPS - The Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer), all of which can be used in several different ways.

Start Time: The time that the observation began. The times are given in UTC (also known as Greenwich Mean Time), which is 8 hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time (7 hours ahead of Pacific Daylight Time).

Duration of Observation: Different observations require different amounts of time to gather all the data. Some observations can be quite quick, and some can take hours.

All the information on this site is based on Spitzer's official schedule. This information is generally correct, but may not reflect Spitzer's actual operating status for many reasons. Occasionally unexpected technical issues cause the observatory to stop taking scheduled science observations. Also, in the case of a significant scientific discovery or an unexpected target of opportunity, the observing schedule may be changed without these computer models being updated. Errors on the computer that create the image above can cause the image to not appear, to not update, or to give the appearance that Spitzer has "fallen over." These images do not reflect actual spacecraft conditions.

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The Spitzer Space Telescope is a NASA mission managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This website is maintained by the Spitzer Science Center, located on the campus of the California Institute of Technology and part of NASA's Infrared Processing and Analysis Center. Privacy Policy