Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer
WISE • Missions & Center • Operational
Overview:
The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) provides an all-sky survey from 3 to 25 microns which is up to 500 times more sensitive than the IRAS survey. WISE will find the most luminous galaxies in the Universe, the closest stars to the Sun, detect most main belt asteroids larger than 3 km, and extend the 2MASS survey into the thermal infrared. WISE will also enable a wide variety of studies ranging from the evolution of protoplanetary debris discs to the history of star formation in normal galaxies. The survey will help search for the origins of planets, stars, and galaxies and create an infrared atlas whose legacy will endure for decades.
WISE launched on 14 December 2009.
IPAC's role:
IPAC is responsible for ingestion of raw WISE data, data processing to produce the final data products, and archiving mission science and engineering data. IPAC is also responsible for the distribution of WISE data to the community, in collaboration with the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive. The IPAC Communications team also supports WISE public affairs and public outreach by preparing all of the WISE images for public release into the image gallery. IPAC's WISE Image Gallery WISE's Mission Homepage Image Gallery
Preliminary Data Release
NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mapped the sky at 3.4, 4.6, 12, and 22 μm in 2010 with an angular resolution of 6.1" 6.4" 6.5" & 12.0" in the four bands. WISE achieved 5σ point source sensitivities better than 0.08, 0.11, 1 and 6 mJy in unconfused regions on the ecliptic in the four bands. Sensitivity improves toward the ecliptic poles due to denser coverage and lower zodiacal background. More info about the Preliminary Data Release
Homepage
- The WISE mission home page is hosted at UC Berkeley
- All-Sky Data Release
