The US space agency (NASA) has successfully launched its newobservatorio WISE, which in the next nine months will blink every 11 seconds capturingimages of the Universe in infrared light. The 675-kilogram device, which has cost 320 million dollars, has been placed in a polar orbit at525 kilometers highand 97.5º. WISE will use a camera sensitive to infrared light to detect objects that emit light and heat and are not visible to other orbital telescopes such as Hubble. Among its main objectives arecold stars, very luminous galaxiesYasteroids and comets near Earthbut unknown until now.
Your first “take” of the sky will occur in two weeks, when the calibration and testing phase of the instruments is completed. Within again months he is expected to have created amap of the entire UniversePerceptible from Earth’s orbit under infrared light. “Infrared light is important in astronomy because it shows us where thecold objects in the Universe, objects that are much colder than the Sun, “explained John Morse, NASA astrophysicist.” In infrared the Universe looks very different.
The last time the entire Universe was mapped to these particular infrared wavelengths was 26 years ago. Since then infrared technology has come a long way. “The old infrared images of the sky are like impressionist paintings; now we will have images that will look like photographs,” explained Edward Wright, principal investigator of this mission at the University of California in Los Angeles (USA).
The space telescope will remain active until the frozen hydrogen that keeps the instruments cold runs out, something that experts predict will happen ten months after launch.
