Could Comet Tempel 1 provide the key to understanding solar systems beyond our own? Dr. Carey Lisse talks with Linda Vu about the results of the Deep Impact mission.

Our story begins in the deep, dark universe, where galaxies, like people, lead fascinating lives, filled with drama.

(JPL Podcast)

Can planet-forming disks put the brakes on spinning stars? Dr. Luisa Rebull discusses Spitzer results that may solve this astronomical mystery.

Astronomers have long scrutinized the vast and layered clouds of the Orion nebula, an industrious star-making factory visible to the naked eye in the sword of the famous hunter constellation. Yet, Orion is still full of secrets.

Years before Spitzer was launched into space, the entire mission was cancelled! Dr. George Rieke discusses the incredible story of what brought it back from the dead, and how that information is influencing new infrared telescopes being developed today.

Spitzer has found a supernova remnant that no other telescope has seen. Dr. Patrick Morris discusses his team's discovery of this shy object which can't be detected in visible or even most bands of infrared light.

Are solar systems like our own common in the universe, or is ours an oddball? Dr. Lynne Hillenbrand discusses her work on a project designed to answer this question, and what they have discovered so far.

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has uncovered new evidence that planets might rise up out of a dead star's ashes. (JPL Podcast)

A supernova may be the ultimate end of a star's life, but this may not be the story's end. Recent Spitzer results hint at new planetary systems arising from the ashes of the old. Dr. Deepto Chakrabarty and Zhongxiang Wang discuss their startling discovery.

Michelle Thaller speaks with Dr. George Helou about a striking new image of Galaxy M82, the discovery of mysterious organic dust clouds around the galaxy, and what they may reveal about the origin of organic material in our own galaxy.