10 Mind-Bending Photos From The Spitzer Telescope

Ten years ago, a Delta II rocket launched NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

As the fourth Great Observatory to enter into space, Spitzer has studied comets and asteroids, counted stars, and most notably, discovered "buckyballs" — soccer-ball-shaped carbon spheres crucial to star birth. The telescope's infrared visions allows it to see the coldest, farthest, and dustiest parts of space with incredible detail and clarity.

Entering its second-decade of space scrutiny, Spitzer must now undertake the task of helping NASA observe and potentially capture and redirect an asteroid nearing Earth.