3000 days, 50000 hours, 1AU - A Celebration of the Ongoing Spitzer Mission

219th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS)

Reception on Monday, Jan 9 2012, 6-8pm


On 11/11/11, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope passed 3000 days in-flight 
since its launch on August 25, 2003.  Originally required to execute a 
2.5 year mission, Spitzer is now in its eighth year, having accumulated 
over 50,000 hours of science observations. Now located just over 1 AU 
away in an Earth-trailing orbit, Spitzer can continue to obtain data 
in its "warm mission" phase until 2014 and beyond. In this post-cryogenic 
phase, IRAC bands 1 & 2 (3.6 & 4.5 um) operate at full sensitivity, 
providing simultaneous imaging over two 5'x5' fields-of-view. 

This reception will provide members of the astronomical community the 
latest information about the Spitzer warm mission, upcoming proposal 
calls, funding, and the opportunity to provide feedback on plans for 
the ongoing mission. Ample opportunity will be provided for questions 
and comments from the community, and interaction with members of the 
Spitzer Science Center. 

The session will also be a celebration of a remarkable and continuing 
mission. Complimentary beer, wine and hors 'd oeuvres will be provided, 
and a full cash bar will be available. 

Support for this session was generously provided by Lockheed Martin. 
The Spitzer telescope was built, integrated and tested at Lockheed 
Martin Space Systems Company facilities in Sunnyvale, California and 
the Observatory Engineering Team is located at Lockheed Martin-Denver.