WISE News
2010 Feb 17. NASA's WISE Mission Releases Medley of First Images - RELEASE : 10-038. WASHINGTON -- A diverse cast of cosmic characters is showcased in the first survey images NASA released Wednesday from its Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. ...Images are online at:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/WISE/multimedia/images20100216.html
2010 Jan 23. WISE
First Near Earth Object (NEO) ...Near-Earth objects
are asteroids and comets with orbits that come close
to Earth's path around the sun. This particular asteroid,
called 2010 AB78, is roughly one kilometer (0.6 miles)
in diameter, and is currently about 158 million kilometers
(98 million miles) away from Earth. Its elliptical-shaped
orbit takes it out beyond Mars and back in about
as close to the sun as Earth. Because the asteroid's
orbit is tilted relative to the plane of our solar
system, astronomers do not think it poses a hazard
to our planet. [See images on website.]
2010 Jan 16. The first HOU-WISE follow-up telecon/online
workshop/presentation by Patrick Miller on the topic
of IASC (International Astronomical Search Collaboration)
was recorded and synchronized with presentation slides
that are available at https://cc.readytalk.com/play?id=fsx6ov (after
you register to view it, by entering your name). The
first 12 minutes are roll call and taking care of startup
issues---actual presentation starts after 12 minutes.
2010 Jan 6. RELEASE 10-005: NASA's
Wise Eye Spies First Glimpse of the Starry Sky; Infrared
All-Sky Surveying Telescope Sends Back First Images
from Space. Excerpt: WASHINGTON -- NASA's Wide-field
Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, has captured its
first look at the starry sky that it will soon begin
surveying in infrared light.
Launched on Dec. 14, WISE will scan the entire sky
for millions of hidden objects, including asteroids, "failed" stars
and powerful galaxies. WISE data will serve as navigation
charts for other missions such as NASA's Hubble and
Spitzer Space Telescopes, pointing them to the most
interesting targets WISE finds.
A new WISE infrared image was taken shortly after the
space telescope's cover was removed, exposing the instrument's
detectors to starlight for the first time. The picture
shows 3,000 stars in the Carina constellation. It can
be viewed online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/WISE/multimedia/wise20100106.html
The image covers a patch of sky about three times larger
than the full moon.
2009 Dec 7. New
NASA Craft, With Infrared Power, Will Map the Unseen
Sky. NY Times article about WISE.
2009 Nov 17. RELEASE : 09-269: NASA's
Wise Gets Ready to Survey the Whole Sky. WASHINGTON
-- NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or
Wise, is chilled out, sporting a sunshade and getting
ready to roll. NASA's newest spacecraft is scheduled
to roll to the pad on Friday, Nov. 20, its last stop
before launching into space to survey the entire
sky in infrared light.
Wise is scheduled to launch no earlier than 9:09 a.m.
EST on Dec. 9 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
It will circle Earth over the poles, scanning the entire
sky one-and-a-half times in nine months. The mission
will uncover hidden cosmic objects, including the coolest
stars, dark asteroids and the most luminous galaxies....
