Science & Images from the Spitzer Space Telescope - Timothy Thompson

The infrared Spitzer Space Telescope, launched in August 2003, is the last of NASA’s Great Observatories. Tim will briefly describe the telescope & its instruments, and why we want to do infrared astronomy. Then he will review the images and science that have come from the Spitzer Space Telescope in its first 3 years of operation. Timothy has been on the board of directors of the Mt. Wilson Observatory Association for about 22 years. He is President Emeritus of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, and a veteran of 17 years on the LAAS board of directors. He has an MS degree in physics from Cal State L.A., and has been in the science division at JPL for 25 years. Currently he works in the Center for Long Wavelength Astrophysics, analyzing images from the Spitzer Space Telescope. He is developing techniques for enhancing the resolution of images from the IRAC & MIPS instruments on Spitzer. His research interests also include creating chemical and radiative transfer models of the outer planet atmospheres, and studying the Jovian plasma environment.