IPAC at Caltech partners with NASA, NSF, JPL and the world-wide research community to advance exploration of our Universe.

Cool Cosmos is NASA's infrared education and outreach website, with information for all NASA-involved infrared missions, including the Spitzer Space Telescope, WISE, the Herschel Space Observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), SOFIA, 2MASS, WFIRST, Euclid and SPICA. This site is hosted at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC), and funded by NASA's Spitzer Science Center, based on the campus of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

LIGO and Virgo make first detection of gravitational waves produced by colliding neutron stars. Discovery marks first cosmic event observed in both gravitational waves and light.

For the first time, scientists have observed ripples in the fabric of spacetime called gravitational waves, arriving at the earth from a cataclysmic event in the distant universe. This confirms a major prediction of Albert Einstein's 1915 general theory of relativity and opens an unprecedented new window onto the cosmos.

The California Institute of Technology aims to expand human knowledge and benefit society through research integrated with education.

What is the size of a comet?