NASA Launches WISE Infared Telescope
Posted in: NASA, science, Space Tech, Today's Chili
NASA has launched a new infrared space telescope that will scan the cosmos for asteroids and comets that could threaten our planet, CNN reports.
The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft lifted off at 9:09 am ET Monday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California mounted to a Delta II rocket.
The telescope features an infrared camera for finding light- and heat-emitting objects that optical telescopes like Hubble could miss. WISE will orbit 326 miles above Earth for nine months. The report said its lens will eventually cover the entire sky one and a half times, snapping photos every 11 seconds.
WISE joins two other infrared telescopes, NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and the ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory, in orbit, though WISE is the only scope of the three mapping the entire sky.
Post a Comment