Launch of IRAS

The Infrared Astronomical Satellite, IRAS, was the first space telescope to survey the whole sky at infrared wavelengths, a joint project of the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. It was launched into polar orbit on a Delta rocket, and its telescope was cooled with liquid helium to detect faint heat radiation. In about ten months of operation, until the coolant ran out, it discovered hundreds of thousands of sources, including galaxies, newborn stars, new comets and asteroids, and bands of dust in the Solar System. It found a disk of dust around the star Vega, which suggested that planets could be forming around other stars. Its catalogue has been a basic reference for astronomers.

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