NEOWISE telescope
- "NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) got extension for two more years and will continue operations until June 2023.
Key points:
- Originally it was launched as the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission in December 2009,
- this telescope surveyed the entire sky in infrared wavelengths, detecting asteroids, dim stars, and some of the faintest galaxies visible in deep space.
- WISE completed its primary mission when it depleted its cryogenic coolant and it was put into hibernation in February 2011.
- Observations resumed in December 2013.
- It was repurposed by NASA’s Planetary Science Division as “NEOWISE” to identify asteroids and comets throughout the solar system, especially, those that pass close to Earth’s orbit.
Features:
- It provides a unique and critical capability of planetary defense.
- It allows rapidly measure the infrared emission and more accurately estimate the size of hazardous asteroids as they are discovered.
- By studying infrared signature, scientists can reveal the size of an asteroid and compare it to the measurements of observations made by optical telescopes on the ground.
- To date, NEOWISE has provided an estimate of the size of over 1,850 NEOs, helping us better understand our nearest solar system neighbors.
- NEOWISE also discovered Comet NEOWISE, which was named after the mission and dazzled observers worldwide in 2020.
- NEOWISE’s replacement, the next-generation NEO Surveyor, is currently scheduled to launch in 2026