NASA's WISE Telescope Maps Millions Of Galaxies

LOS ANGELES -- The first batch of data from a NASA mission to map the entire sky has been released to scientists and anyone with access to the Internet.

The celestial catalog made public this week includes millions of galaxies, stars, asteroids and other objects.

Many have been previously observed, but there are some new discoveries, including more than 33,000 new asteroids and 20 comets.

The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer – or WISE for short – was launched in 2009 to scan the whole sky in greater detail than previous missions. It went into hibernation earlier this year after mapping the sky 1 1/2 times.

The online collection represents only a portion of the all-sky survey. The full data is scheduled to be released next spring.

The project is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

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Comments

[TYRANNASAURUS]

05:22 PM on 04/18/2011

NASA's WISE Telescope Maps Millions Of Galaxies ...which means trillions of stars with zillions of planets...........I wonder which one god lives on since he apparently has never visited this one more than once.........a long time ago..........or so they say.

[2229]

06:38 AM on 04/18/2011

NASA's STS 75 Columbia Space Shuttle Tether Science Mission
February 22, 1996
Kennedy Space Center Floride

Data was to be gathered on voltage generated across the Tether while in the ionosphere.
During the operation the Tether snapped from the becoming electrically charged in the ionosphere with as much as 3,500 volts drawing the attention of UFO's orbiting the Earth.
(1:16sec)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ksl0HYBNr2I

[jsehgal]

06:31 AM on 04/18/2011

I am heartened that unlike the results of the DNA sequence mapping project, there is no 'private' ownership of galaxies this time. It is just pure natural information without a few greedy capitalists being parceled out choice areas for their exploitation. At least I can still look at the sky or pictures of it without being sued.

[madtube]

05:15 AM on 04/18/2011

"What does God need with a starship?"

[Morgantheaxe]

01:31 AM on 04/18/2011

God made Earth in six day and took a break on the seventh. Lets say it took him less time to make the junky planets and gas balls and such. Say it averages out to two days a planet. What were looking at a few trillion planets out there? Well if we do the math and say the Earth is 5000 years old like the creationists say it is then this telescope should of easily been able to pick up a photo of God out there whipping up another planet. I mean really time wise given that quantity he really has only made about 2500 more planets since this one.

Now given the silliness of the possibility of what is written in the bible actually being true vs. what common sense and a two dollar calculator will tell you about how long it would of taken to create the universe Im thinking maybe we shouldn't listen to those religious folks so much until they come to realize the bible is really at best interpretation.

[DaneAZ]

03:05 AM on 04/18/2011

...and they only dig their heels in more deeply.

[John Stuart]

02:20 PM on 04/18/2011

If i was God i would have done it all in an instant and rested for almost 7.

[Rodney Ramirez]

11:24 PM on 04/17/2011

Fascinating, our insignificance in this galaxy, much less the universe, is mind-boggling. I don't understand how the general population and the media, have no clue or care as to what science is discovering and what possibilities are in the near future of exploration. We can thank in large part the Republican party for its anti-intellectualism and where stupid is the "new smart".

[JackTheSkipper]

09:45 PM on 04/17/2011

Did they find a old with the beard in anyone of those pictures?

[LMPE]

05:51 PM on 04/17/2011

And then it's like there's a constellation that looks like a scene in a porno movie.

[SolarArray]

03:26 PM on 04/17/2011

Our big back yard.

[palindrom]

09:16 AM on 04/17/2011

I'm an astronomer -- I had nothing to do with this particular mission, but I must say it did a beautiful job and was remarkably trouble-free. This kind of success requires incredible amounts of expertise and planning. Lovely pictures, too!

[Tazirai]

12:13 AM on 04/17/2011

One day I'll be able to explore the Universe.. and I will be content.

[CSKAP]

04:18 PM on 04/15/2011

Might have been nice to post the address of the on line collection

[WSAY]

04:08 PM on 04/16/2011

http://wise.ssl.berkeley.edu/gallery_images.html