IRAS
 IRAS with four all-sky images in its wavelengths. (credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Launched in January 25, 1983, its mission lasted ten months. It was a joint project of US, UK and the Netherlands.
IRAS mapped 96% of the sky four times, at 12, 25, 60 and 100 microns wavelengths. It discovered about 500,000 sources, many of which are still waiting identification. About 75,000 of those are believed to be starbust galaxies, still enduring their star-formation stage. Many other sources are normal stars with disks of dust around them, possibily the early stage of a planetary system formation.
IRAS life, like most of infrared satellites, was limited by its cooling system: to effectively work in the infrared domain, a satellite must be cooled to impressively low temperatures. In IRAS' case, 720 liters of superfluid helium kept the satellite at a temperature of 1.6 Kelvin (about -272 °C). The fluid keeps the satellite cool by evaporation. When the fluid is totally evaporated, the satellite temperature starts to rise and observations must cease.
See also: telescope, space telescope.
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Referenced By
Astronomical satellite | Dyson Sphere | List of astronomical topics | List of astronomical topics (N-Z) | List of unmanned spacecraft by program | NASA | NGC 6240 | National Aeronautic and Space Administration | National Aeronautics and Space Administration | National Aeronautics and Space Agency | SIRTF | Space Infrared Telescope Facility | Space observatory | Spitzer Space Telescope | Starfish Galaxy | Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes | Timeline of astronomical maps, catalogs, and surveys | Timeline of galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and large-scale structure | Timeline of galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and large scale structure | Timeline of knowledge about galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and large-scale structure | Vega
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