William Atkins
Monday, 14 December 2009 20:58
Science -
Space
Page 1 of 2
The NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) lifted off Monday morning, December 14, 2009, from its California launch pad for its six-month mission to make a detailed survey of the universe in the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum of radiation.
A Delta 2 rocket blasted off at 6:09 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST), 9:09 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
It was carrying its WISE payload in its ascent through Earth's atmosphere.
The Delta 2 launch of WISE is recorded on the YouTube.com video “
WISE: LAUNCH.”
The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, with its acronym designation of WISE, will create an all-sky map of the universe in infrared light.
Infrared light is that portion of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths of between 0.7 and 300 micrometers (microns), which is the same as a frequency range of about 1 to 430 terahertz (THz), where one terahertz is equal to 10
12 hertz.
Specifically, the WISE space telescope will make images in the 3 to 25 micron range of wavelengths, which is a small portion of the possible wavelengths within infrared light.
Its 40-centimer (16-inch) telescope, along with its image detectors, will be about one thousand more sensitive to infrared objects in the universe than any previous major infrared space telescopes.
Page two concludes with additional information on the mission over the next six months.
