An Ode To Spitzer, NASA's Now-Defunct Space Telescope

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Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Deep space is a harsh, unforgiving place, traversed only by the lonely few. Now, one traveller's decade-spanning journey through the stars is coming to an end. January 31 marks the last day NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope will broadcast science and engineering data to Earth, closing the final curtain on a trip that first began in 2003.

Spitzer's final transmission was announced in a blog post by NASA, drawing a prolific and achievement-filled career closed for the Spitzer. In the same announcement, NASA confirmed that it would be replaced by the James Webb Space Telescope, a newer infrared telescope.