Streamed live Dec 6, 2023
Robert Hurt, Caltech/IPAC
Over the last year and a half, the world has been amazed by the incredible fidelity of the Webb Space Telescope's infrared view of the universe. Yet 2023 also marks the anniversaries of two landmark missions that forged the path of infrared astronomy from space. IRAS, the Infrared Astronomical Satellite, opened the astronomical community's eyes to the vast possibilities of the infrared universe 40 years ago. And 20 years ago, the Spitzer Space Telescope began plumbing new depths in the exploration of infrared celestial wonders. Dr. Hurt will look back across four decades of space-based infrared astronomy to examine how our understanding of the universe was fundamentally changed by accessing this non-visible part of the light spectrum from outside of Earth’s obscuring atmosphere.