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[upbeat music]

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[Narrator] The Spitzer
Space Telescope

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has blown us away with
incredible imagery

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over the last 16 years.

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However, getting these
images is much more difficult

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than you may think.

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Spacecraft images
are not photographs,

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but pictorial
presentations of data.

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Satellite systems measure light

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at different bands of the
electromagnetic spectrum.

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In Spitzer's case,
it's the infrared.

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This is raw data
processed from Spitzer.

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To analyze this
flood of numbers,

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scientists rely on computers,
not only to do calculations,

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but also to change
data into images,

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similar to the process
our digital cameras use

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to get that perfect picture.

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Even with the computer,

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scientists go through
a painstaking process

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to make sure the images
are technically correct,

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so the raw data gets
turned into this.

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Spitzer's infrared images
are not true color images.

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Since we can't see infrared
wavelengths with our eyes,

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scientists pick
representative colors

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to show the infrared light
detected by the telescope.

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Computer-aided data
collection and processing

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is essential, but the
scientists truly bring the data

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into a visual piece of art that
we can enjoy and understand.