Even the darkest of the dark objects in space won’t be able to hide from WISE

In the history of mankind, common sense has always told us that if you wish to be sneaky, you must make yourself as invisible as possible. The same holds true in space. As some of the most amazing objects (and most dangerous ones), do not quite make the scale as far as emitting visible light goes.

Well these objects will now have no place to hide thanks to the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.



At Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, workers guide the interstage of the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket for launch of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, into place on top of the rocket's first stage in the pad's mobile service tower.
Credit: NASA/Roy Allison, VAFB


Scheduled for a December 9th launch aboard a Delta II rocket, as the name suggests, WISE will use a series of instruments to scan the entire sky at infrared wavelengths. Dim stars, planets, and clouds will now be seen and charted. Asteroids will be charted as well. Even potentially close asteroids that may pose as a threat to life on Earth.

Instrument wise (no pun intended), WISE will use 3 key pieces of equipment:

A 40 centimeter aperture telescope which views the sky in 4 different infrared wavelengths.

Detectors which measure data by transforming light into electrons, one for each of the infrared wavelengths observed by WISE.

A Cryostat instrument. Since even cold objects emit hardly any visible light, they still emit infrared light. So in order to avoid detecting their own signal, the telescope and detectors must be kept even colder. The system utilizes 2 tanks filled with frozen hydrogen to cool the instruments to nearly -450 degrees Fahrenheit.



NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or Wise, is seen here being hoisted to the top of its United Launch Alliance Detla II rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The spacecraft, which will scan the whole sky in infrared light, is scheduled to blast off on Dec. 9, 2009. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech


A specific object WISE will be looking for is known as a brown dwarf. These objects are similar to Jupiter as they are balls of gas that were lacking the mass necessary to form into stars. They are cool and faint to visible light, but it is expected that nearly 1,000 will be discovered within 25 light years.



This is the central region of the Milky Way Galaxy as viewed in infrared light. The image is a composite of mid-infrared imagery from the MSX satellite and near-infrared imagery from the 2MASS survey. WISE images will be similar in quality.
Credit: NASA/JPL/UCLA


Looking a little deeper, NASA will be looking for what is known as ultraluminous infrared galaxies, or ULIRGs. These galaxies fill the distant universe, but do not emit much visible light. However in the infrared wavelengths, it is possible that millions of these unseen galaxies will be discovered.



This artist's animation shows NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, rotating in space, revealing all sides of the spacecraft. The spacecraft's orbit is shown next. WISE will orbit over the poles of Earth, staying over the day-night, or terminator, line. Its telescope will always point away from Earth, and its solar panels will face the sun.
Credit: Ball/NASA/JPL-Caltech




JPL video presenting the WISE