# IRAS: The Infrared Revolution That Changed Astronomy Forever

About this episode

This episode discusses the launch of the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) and its impact on astronomy.

This is your Astronomy Tonight podcast. Today we're celebrating June 13th, and I've got a wonderful piece of astronomical history to share with you. On this date in 1983, the Infrared Astronomical Satellite, or IRAS as it's commonly known, was launched into orbit. Now, this might not sound as glamorous as landing on the Moon, but let me tell you, IRAS absolutely revolutionized how we see the universe. Picture this: for decades, astronomers had been looking at the cosmos through visible light, the same light our eyes can see. But they knew there was so much more out there hiding in infrared radiation, the heat signatures that objects in space emit. The problem was, Earth's atmosphere blocks most of that infrared light from reaching our telescopes on the ground. So what did we do? We sent a satellite to space to bypass that problem entirely. IRAS was a joint mission between NASA, the British Science and Engineering Research Council, and the Dutch agency for aerospace programs. It carried a telescope with a mirror just twenty-two inches in diameter, which doesn't sound huge until you realize this was the first space-based infrared observatory of its kind. The satellite was cooled to…

People in this episode

Host: Inception Point Ai

Topics covered

• infrared astronomy
• IRAS
• space telescopes
• astronomical history
• satellite missions

Keywords

• IRAS
• infrared radiation
• astronomy
• space-based observatory
• NASA
• satellite
• cosmos
• galaxies
• stellar nurseries

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NASA, British Science and Engineering Research Council, Dutch agency for aerospace programs

Products: Infrared Astronomical Satellite

Places: space

More episodes of Astronomy Tonight

• Hubble's Salvation: Corrective Optics Save Humanity's Cosmic Vision · June 12, 2026 · 2 min
• **First Exoplanet Discovery: 51 Pegasi b Revolutionizes Our Understanding** · June 11, 2026 · 2 min
• # Episode Title **The Great Comet of 1811: History's Most Spectacular Celestial Event** · June 10, 2026 · 3 min
• # Mariner 10: First to Mercury and Venus · June 9, 2026 · 2 min
• # Pulsar Planets: The Universe's Most Extreme Worlds · June 7, 2026 · 2 min
• **The 1761 Venus Transit: Measuring the Solar System** · June 6, 2026 · 2 min