Infrared Astronomy is the detection and study of the infrared radiation, or heat energy, emitted by objects in the universe. All astronomical objects have heat, so all objects emit infrared (IR) radiation. This makes IR astronomy the study of just about everything in the universe.

To observe in IR, astronomers can use the same telescopes they use for optical astronomy, but with different filters and receivers that are fine-tuned to the IR part of the spectrum. Because it is relatively easy to change the telescope over to this type of set-up, a large number of observatories have an IR receiver or spectrograph which can be used.^[1]

Photo: The Spitzer Space Telescope