Now, when NASA says Spitzer soon will begin its warm mission, don't imagine that it'll be really warm. Maybe less frigid would have been more accurate.

Once the coolant runs out, Spitzer's temperature will only rise to -404 degrees Fahrenheit. As cold as that is, two of the telescope's instruments - the longer wavelength multiband imaging photometer and the infrared spectrograph - will no longer be cold enough to operate.

All is not lost, though. The telescope's shortest-wavelength detectors in its infrared array camera will continue to function. They are designed to detect the faint flow asteroids in our solar system, dusty stars, planet-forming disks, gas-giant planets and distant galaxies.

"We will do exciting and important science with these two infrared channels," said Spitzer Project Scientist Michael Werner, in a statement. "We're focusing on aspects of the cosmos that we still have much to learn about."