The band of light is the glowing dust emission
Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2025 8:40 am
This discovery could be a significant piece in the puzzle of finding habitable environments, places that are conducive to life,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington per NASA.
“Answering the question ‘are we alone’ is a top science priority and finding so many planets like these for the first time in the habitable zone is a remarkable step forward toward that goal.”
Spitzer in space
Spitzer seen against the infrared sky. from the Milky Way galaxy seen at 100 microns (as seen by the IRAS/COBE missions). Spitzer looks towards the Rho Ophiuchi star-formation region looming just above the disk of the Milky Way.
Getty Images
In this photo, you can see Spitzer in space against the infrared sky as it is positioned toward the Rho Ophiuchi.
It’s a multiple star system in the constellation Ophiuchus.
One big ring
This artist's conception shows a nearly invisible ring around buy phone number list Saturn - the largest of the giant planet's many rings. It was discovered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Keck
Spitzer discovered the largest ring ever known around Saturn in 2009, according to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
At the time, JPL reported it would take nearly one billion Earths to fill the ring.
“If you could see the ring, it would span the width of two full moons’ worth of sky, one on either side of Saturn,” astronomer Anne Verbiscer said at the time, via JPL.
Galaxy in the “young universe”
A combined visible and infrared view of galaxy HUDF-JD2. In the browse image, Hubble's visible light image is in the upper right, Hubble's near infrared view is in the lower left, Spitzer's infrared camera is in the lower right and the combined view of all three images in the upper left.
“Answering the question ‘are we alone’ is a top science priority and finding so many planets like these for the first time in the habitable zone is a remarkable step forward toward that goal.”
Spitzer in space
Spitzer seen against the infrared sky. from the Milky Way galaxy seen at 100 microns (as seen by the IRAS/COBE missions). Spitzer looks towards the Rho Ophiuchi star-formation region looming just above the disk of the Milky Way.
Getty Images
In this photo, you can see Spitzer in space against the infrared sky as it is positioned toward the Rho Ophiuchi.
It’s a multiple star system in the constellation Ophiuchus.
One big ring
This artist's conception shows a nearly invisible ring around buy phone number list Saturn - the largest of the giant planet's many rings. It was discovered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Keck
Spitzer discovered the largest ring ever known around Saturn in 2009, according to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
At the time, JPL reported it would take nearly one billion Earths to fill the ring.
“If you could see the ring, it would span the width of two full moons’ worth of sky, one on either side of Saturn,” astronomer Anne Verbiscer said at the time, via JPL.
Galaxy in the “young universe”
A combined visible and infrared view of galaxy HUDF-JD2. In the browse image, Hubble's visible light image is in the upper right, Hubble's near infrared view is in the lower left, Spitzer's infrared camera is in the lower right and the combined view of all three images in the upper left.