The Salt Lake Astronomical Society and the University of Utah are sponsoring a free public talk tonight about amazing discoveries made by the Spitzer Space Telescope, the most sensitive infrared instrument ever sent into space.
The lecture starts at 7:30 p.m. in the University of Utah's Aline Wilmot Skaggs Biology Building auditorium. The speaker is Robert K. Wilson of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, Calif. Wilson, the Spitzer Space Telescope project manager, earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering at the University of Utah.
NASA notes that Spitzer was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Aug. 25, 2003. Since then, it has detected the infrared — or heat — energy of fascinating objects in space. Spitzer opened a door to the cosmos because most infrared radiation is blocked by Earth's atmosphere and can't be detected from the ground, the space agency says.
More than a yard in diameter, Spitzer makes images and measurements by collecting infrared radiation ranging from 3 microns to 180 microns. To do so, the telescope is cooled to nearly absolute zero, the coldest possible temperature. Absolute zero is minus-459 Fahrenheit. Spitzer carries a solar shield to help control heating.
The result is that the instrument has been able to peer through dust clouds that hide some objects from optical telescopes. A university press release mentioned these discoveries:
In March 2005, astronomers announced that Spitzer had detected the light from planets outside the solar system. It was the first time such planets had been seen directly, rather than surmised from the motions of their host stars.
Spitzer scientists said in October 2005 that brown dwarf stars could have solar systems.
Last December, astronomers reported that Spitzer had "discovered some of the ingredients for DNA and proteins in the zone where Earth-like planets might form around a nearby star."
Last week, NASA said Spitzer had imaged a disk of dusty rubble-like material around a pulsar. A pulsar is the remains of a star that exploded. The discovery suggested that planets might form from a dead star's debris.
In 2001, Wilson began working on the Spitzer project as operations-development manager. Two years later he was selected as the chief of operations for the observatory after its launch. He became Spitzer project manger in 2004.
Wilson was born in southeastern Idaho. His earlier career with NASA included a stint as design engineer for the JPL Viking Mars lander crafts. He later served as the deputy flight-engineering office manager for the JPL Voyager Project.
Lowell Lyon, president of Salt Lake Astronomical Society, said a member of the group, Richard Tenney, suggested Wilson might be able to come to Salt Lake City for a presentation. Lyon contacted Wilson at JPL. "He was very interested and willing to come and offer a free public lecture about his work with the Spitzer Space Telescope," Lyon said.
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