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[sweeping dramatic music]

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>> Narrator: For most of history,

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much of the sky was hidden.

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For there are many kinds of
light our eyes can't see.

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And despite the use of
powerful technologies

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that made this light visible,

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the sky remained veiled
because our atmosphere

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blocked much of the light
from reaching the ground.

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But there was a plan.

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Four special telescopes that could fly

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above the atmosphere and into space,

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where they could see the
universe more clearly.

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Each one gifted with special abilities

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to see part of the hidden light.

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Joining forces, they would reveal

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a more complete picture
of the universe around us.

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They were The Great Observatories.

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[dramatic music]

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[gentle music]

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The Spitzer Space Telescope.

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Created to see the infrared universe.

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But because much of the infrared light

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comes from relatively cool
objects in the cosmos,

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there was one condition on which Spitzer's

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special power rested.

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It had to be very, very,

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almost ridiculously cold in order

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to see the infrared world.

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Otherwise, the telescope's own heat,

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and that of the earth around it,

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would overwhelm its special abilities.

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But Spitzer was up to the challenge.

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Once launched into space, high above

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the infrared absorbing atmosphere,

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it journeyed far from the
warm, infrared glow of Earth.

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It shielded itself from sweltering sun

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and chilled out using a
special cooling contraption

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it had brought.

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And as Spitzer cooled
down, the infrared sky

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came into view like never before.

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With its power of infrared sight,

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Spitzer could see through
clouds of dust in space

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to show the places where stars are born.

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Spitzer even studied alien
planets in other solar systems.

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Something even it's creaters
never designed it to do!

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Together with the other
Great Observatories,

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Spitzer helped reveal many
distant and fascinating

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places across the universe.

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But after several years, Spitzer's special

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cooling contraption ran out of juice,

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meaning it would soon warm up.

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Would this mean the end of
our hero's observing days?

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Not Spitzer!

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There was still plenty of infrared things

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it could see just fine.

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And it just wouldn't, just couldn't quit.

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Many years later, having
revealed a whole side

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of the universe we would
not have seen without it,

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NASA's infrared Great Observatory retired.

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But, because of their success,

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Spitzer and its space
telescope superfriends

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would not be the last of
The Great Observatories.

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Soon, another, powerful
infrared observer would follow,