This view of the Flame nebula from WISE is an expanded view over one previously released of this enormous space cloud .

This infrared image from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, also shows the “light echoes” of the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant.

Sprigs of holly, a big red bow and silver bells appear to dress up this cosmic star-forming wreath, captured by WISE.

This view from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, takes in an area of the sky in the constellation of Scorpius surrounding Jabbah that is larger than a grid of 8 by 8 full moons.

In visible light, NGC 281 in the constellation of Cassiopeia appears to be chomping through the cosmos, earning it the nickname the “Pacman” nebula.

"Y dwarfs" are the coldest star-like bodies known, with temperatures that can be even cooler than the human body. NASA's WISE uncovered these elusive objects for the first time, using its heat-sensing, infrared vision.

Astronomers studying observations taken by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission have discovered the first known "Trojan" asteroid orbiting the sun along with Earth.

New findings from NEOWISE, the asteroid- and comet-hunting portion of NASA's WISE mission, show that comet Hartley 2 leaves a pebbly trail as it laps the Sun, dotted with grains as big as golf balls.

This image from NASA’s WISE, highlights several star-forming regions.

Image of a huge complex of star-forming clouds and stellar clusters found in the constellation Cygnus has been released by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, mission.

NGC 2259 is an example of an open cluster where the stars are more loosely organized.

Affectionately called the “Monkey nebula” by some, NGC2174 is a cloud of gas and dust that surrounds the star cluster NGC2175.

In infrared light, NASA’s WISE reveals a giant nebula around Lambda Orionis, inflating Orion’s head to huge proportions.

A rich collection of colorful astronomical objects is revealed in this picturesque image of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Explorer, or WISE.

Today’s image from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, features a region of star birth wrapped in a green blanket of dust.

NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, captured this image of a star-forming cloud of dust and gas located in the constellation of Monoceros.

NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, captured this colorful image of the nebula BFS 29 surrounding the star CE-Camelopardalis, found hovering in the band comprising the Milky Way in the night sky.

Among the multitudes of astronomical bodies that have been discovered by the NEOWISE portion of the WISE mission are 20 comets.

This image from NASA’s Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, features two stunning galaxies engaged in an intergalactic dance.

This image captured by NASA’s WISE shows of one of our closest neighboring galaxies, Messier 33.

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of the launch of NASA’s Wide-Field Infrared Explorer, or WISE, the mission team has put together this image showing just a sample of the millions of galaxies that have been imaged by WISE during its survey of the entire sky.

This mosaic image taken by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, features three nebulae that are part of the giant Orion Molecular Cloud.

This image composite shows two views of a puffy, dying star, or planetary nebula, known as NGC 1514. The view on the left is from a ground-based, visible-light telescope; the view on the right shows the object in infrared light, as seen by NASA's WISE.

WISE has uncovered a striking population of young stellar objects in a complex of dense, dark clouds in the southern constellation of Circinus.

The aptly named Cocoon nebula is featured in this image from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.

This visitor from deep space, seen here by NASA's WISE, is comet Hartley 2 -- the destination for NASA's EPOXI mission.

Named after the astronomer who published a catalogue of nebulae in 1965, LBN stands for “Lynds Bright Nebula." The numbers 114.55+00.22 refer to nebula’s coordinates in the Milky Way Galaxy, serving as a sort of galactic home address.

A new cosmic image taken by NASA’s WISE shows the Rosette nebula located within the constellation Monoceros

This image captured by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) highlights the Small Magellanic Cloud. Also known as NGC 292, the Small Magellanic Cloud is a small galaxy about 200,000 light-years away.

Sprawling across the constellation Vela is a complex of dark, dense clouds of dust and gas, difficult to detect with telescopes that see only visible light.

This image from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) takes in several interesting objects in the constellation Cassiopeia, none of which are easily seen in visible light.

This image from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) is of the nearby galaxy Messier 83, or M83 for short.

This image from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) features comet 65P/Gunn.

The Heart and Soul nebulae are seen in this infrared mosaic from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.

An infrared image from WISE showcases the Tadpole nebula, a star-forming hub in the constellation Auriga about 12,000 light-years from Earth. As WISE scanned the sky, capturing this mosaic of stitched-together frames, it happened to catch an asteroid in our Solar System passing by.

This heroic image from WISE is of a special cloud of dust and gas in the constellation Canis Major catalogued as NGC 2359. The nebula is more commonly known as Thor's Helmet due to its remarkable resemblance to depictions of the headwear donned by the famed Norse god of thunder and lightning.

This image from WISE is a view within the constellation Cassiopeia of another portion of the vast star forming complex that makes up part of the Perseus spiral arm of the Milky Way Galaxy.

This WISE mosaic is of the Soul Nebula (a.k.a. the Embryo Nebula, IC 1848, or W5). It is an open cluster of stars surrounded by a cloud of dust and gas over 150 light-years across and located about 6,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia, near the Heart Nebula (partially seen in the WISE image of Maffei 1 & 2).

A new infrared image from WISE shows a cosmic rosebud blossoming with new stars. The stars, called the Berkeley 59 cluster, are the blue dots to the right of the image center.

A mosaic of images from WISE in the constellation of Cassiopeia.

This dramatic image of a nebula containing young, massive stars was captured by NASDA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, a space telescope mapping the whole sky in infrared light.

Comet Siding Spring appears to streak across the sky like a superhero in this new infrared image from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.

The red dot near the center of this image is the first near-Earth asteroid discovered by WISE.

This is a mosaic of the images covering the entire sky as observed by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), part of its All-Sky Data Release.

This enormous section of the Milky Way Galaxy is a mosaic of images from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.

Seen as a red dusty cloud in this image from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, Puppis A is the remnant of a supernova explosion.

This image shows a giant dust cloud in between the claws of the constellation Scorpius

New infrared observations from WISE reveal how the first supernova ever recorded occurred and how its shattered remains ultimately spread out to great distances.

The black areas in this image—called infrared dark clouds (IRDCs)—are exceptionally cold, dense cloud cores seen in silhouette against the bright diffuse infrared glow of the plane of the Milky Way.

Messier 101 is a grand design spiral galaxy, which is a disk of hundreds of billions of stars with a small central bulge and prominent arms spiraling out from the center. In this image, stars appear blue because they are hotter and glow brightly in the shorter wavelengths observed by WISE.

Seen here by NASA’s WISE, the cloud CG4 might be imagined as a cosmic alligator eating its way across the sky.

This image of the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula from NASA’s WISE shows clouds of dust and gas being pushed and eroded by a massive star.

A new, colorful collection of galaxy specimens has been released by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, mission.

This latest image from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, shows three different nebulae located in the constellation of Perseus.

This preliminary release will allow astronomers and astronomy enthusiasts worldwide to explore the sky as seen by WISE.

In infrared light, NASA’s WISE reveals the nebula SH 2-235 to be a huge star formation complex – more than 100 light-years across -- as seen in this new view.

There’s something special going on in the nearby Circinus galaxy, as revealed by this image from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.

NASA’s WISE captured this image of the star Alpha Camelopardalis speeding through the sky like a motorcyclist zipping through rush-hour traffic.

This large mosaic image from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, features the wreckage of an exploded star.

On the morning of February 1st, 2011, NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, took its last snapshot of the sky.

The blue star near the center of this image is Zeta Ophiuchi.

This colorful picture is a mosaic of the Lagoon nebula taken by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.

This image from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, is an infrared view of a star forming cloud in our Galaxy called the Lambda Centauri nebula, also known as the Running Chicken nebula.

Also known as the Jellyfish nebula, IC 443 is particularly interesting because it provides a look into how stellar explosions interact with their environment.

NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, captured this view of a runaway star racing away from its original home. Seen here surrounded by a glowing cloud of gas and dust, the star AE Aurigae appears to be on fire. Appropriately, the cloud is called the Flaming Star Nebula.

This particular object, named "WISEPC J045853.90+643451.9" after its location in the sky, is the first ultra-cool brown dwarf discovered by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.

WISE captured this colorful image of the reflection nebula IRAS 12116-6001. This cloud of interstellar dust cannot be seen directly in visible light, but WISE observed the nebula at infrared wavelengths.

The Sculptor galaxy is shown in different infrared hues, in this new mosaic from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.

Gripped in the claw of the constellation Scorpius, sits the reflection nebula DG 129, a cloud of dust and gas that reflects light from nearby, bright stars. This infrared view of the nebula was captured by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! Nope, it’s an asteroid tracking its way across the sky with a beautiful spiral galaxy in the background.

NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, has captured a favorite observing target of amateur astronomers -- Omega Centauri.

The cluster, AFGL 490, is hidden from view in visible light by the cloud. But WISE’s infrared vision sees the glow of the dust itself, and penetrates this dust to see the infant stars within.

This image shows the famous Pleiades cluster of stars as seen through the eyes of WISE, or NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer.

The Tarantula Nebula is a giant star forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

The red-colored object in this new infrared image from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) is a sphere of stellar innards, blown out from a humongous star.

This image of spiral galaxy NGC 6744 from NASA’s WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) is a mosaic of frames covering an area 3 full Moons tall and 3 full Moons wide (1.56 x 1.56 degrees).

The Seagull Nebula, seen in this infrared mosaic from NASA’s WISE, draws its common name from it resemblance to a gull in flight.

This infrared image from NASA’s WISE features one of the bright stars in the constellation Perseus, named Menkhib (the bright star in the upper left near the red dustcloud) along with a large star forming cloud catalogued as NGC 1499, or more commonly called the California Nebula.

This colorful image from WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) is a view of an area of the sky over 12 times the size of the full Moon on the border of the constellations Sagittarius and Corona Australis.

A leggy cosmic creature comes out of hiding in this new infrared view from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. The spiral beauty, called IC 342 and sometimes the "hidden galaxy," is shrouded behind our own galaxy, the Milky Way.

This image from the WISE mission was taken on January 2nd, 2010, during the check-out phase, before the start of the WISE survey. It is a mosaic of 3 individual WISE frames spanning an area on the sky about 7 times the size of the full Moon in portions of the constellations Bootes and Canes Venatici.

This picture of the open star cluster NGC 7380 is a mosaic of images from the WISE mission spanning an area on the sky of about 5 times the size of the full Moon.

This image from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, highlights the dust that speckles the Andromeda galaxy's spiral arms.

WISE's large field of view and multi-wavelength infrared sight allowed it to form this complete view of the cluster, containing dozens of bright galaxies and hundreds of smaller ones.

The red smudge at the center of this picture is the first comet discovered by NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.

This infrared snapshot of a region in the constellation Carina near the Milky Way was taken shortly after NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) ejected its cover.