RIP Spitzer: NASA bids an emotional farewell to its infrared space telescope that has been capturing stunning images of the Milky Way and cradles of newborn stars for over 16 years

After more than 16 years studying the universe in infrared light since its launch in 2003, NASA has switched off the Spitzer Space Telescope (main image), bringing its mission to an end. Since its launch, Spitzer studied comets and asteroids in our own solar system, detailed the seven rocky exoplanets in the TRAPPIST-1 star system and found a previously unidentified ring around Saturn (bottom right). The infrared telescope also captured stunning images of the Cat's Paw nebula (bottom left) and Helix nebula (top left) and composed an extensive map of our Milky Way galaxy (top right)