NASA's WISE Telescope Completes First Survey of the Entire Sky

Returning More Than a Million Images
By Laurie J. Schmidt
07.19.2010

NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite has just completed its first survey of the entire sky viewable from Earth -- returning more than a million images that provide a zoomed-in look at celestial objects ranging from distant galaxies to asteroids.

From its orbit several hundred miles above the Earth's polar regions, the spacecraft scans strips of the sky, always staying over the day-night dividing line. Every 11 seconds, an infrared-sensitive digital camera takes a snapshot over the entire sky.

WISE has already observed more than 100,000 known and previously unseen asteroids. Most of these are located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, but some are near-Earth objects that pass relatively close to the Earth. The telescope's infrared vision also enables it to detect the glow of brown dwarfs, objects with masses between that of planets and stars, and it can also see the brightest of ultra-luminous infrared galaxies. the rest/image



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