An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

A → NASA infrared astronomical → space telescope launched in December 2009 to carry out an → all-sky survey from 3 to 22 → microns. With its 40-cm → telescope telescope and → infrared cameras, WISE aimed at a wide variety of studies ranging from the evolution of → protoplanetary disks to the history of → star formation in normal galaxies. In early October 2010, after completing its prime science mission, the spacecraft ran out of → coolant that keeps its instrumentation cold. However, two of its four infrared cameras remained operational. Hence,
NASA extended the NEOWISE portion of the WISE mission by four months, with the primary purpose of hunting for more → asteroids and → comets,
and to finish one complete scan of the main → asteroid belt. In August 2013, the WISE telescope’s mission was extended for more three years to search for asteroids that could collide with Earth.

See also: → wide field; → infrared; → survey; → explorer.