IMAGE 0_99\36.Lbm,A Delta 3910 launch vehicle lifts off the launch pad at Vendenberg Air Force Base, California, carrying the infrared astronomy satellite IRAS on January 25, 1983.
IMAGE 200_299\222.Lbm,US and Dutch technicians carry out a final pre launch checkout of IRAS at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in January 1983.
IMAGE 200_299\224.Lbm,IRAS also spotted heavenly bodies closer to home, including this comet, called IRAS-Araki-Alcock.
IMAGE 200_299\225.Lbm,The arrow in this false-colour picture sent back by IRAS points to a region in a distant nebula (cloud) of gas and dust where stars are being born.
IMAGE 200_299\226.Lbm,A ring of matter surrounds the bright star Vega, according to data returned by IRAS. It could be another solar system.
IMAGE 200_299\239.Lbm,IRAS spent months mapping the heavens in the infrared and was able to see through the dust clouds that normally mask the heart of our Milky Way galaxy.
IMAGE 200_299\266.Lbm,An IRAS picture of the Andromeda galaxy, showing regions (red, orange and yellow) where stars are forming.
IMAGE 200_299\267.Lbm,Scattered throughout our Galaxy are puffs of gaseous "cirrus clouds", which IRAS spotted on its all-sky survey.
IMAGE 200_299\268.Lbm,IRAS being tested before launch in the space simulator at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California.
IMAGE 600_699\638.Lbm,The launch of the infrared astronomy satellite IRAS from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on January 25, 1983.
IMAGE 800_899\826.Lbm,This map of our Milky Way galaxy was prepared from data returned to Earth by IRAS. It shows most infrared sources concentrated in the plane of the galaxy.
IMAGE 900_999\914.Lbm,An IRAS view of the plane of our Galaxy. Because it had infrared 'eyes', it was able to look through the dense dust clouds that block visible light.
IMAGE 900_999\965.Lbm,IRAS view of our neighbouring galaxy in Andromeda, M31, at infrared wavelengths.
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IMAGE 1700_99\716.Lbm,The infrared satellite IRAS under construction in the Netherlands.