Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer - Mission

Mission

WISE surveyed the sky in four wavelengths of the infrared band, at a very high sensitivity. Its detector arrays have 5-sigma sensitivity limits of 120, 160, 650, and 2600 microjanskies (µJy) at 3.3, 4.7, 12, and 23 micrometres (aka microns). This is a factor of 1,000 times better sensitivity than the survey completed in 1983 by the IRAS satellite in the 12 and 23 micrometres (micron) bands, and a factor of 500,000 times better than the 1990s survey by the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite at 3.3 and 4.7 micrometres. On the other hand, IRAS could also observe 60 and 100 micron wavelengths.

  • Band 1 – 3.4 micrometres (microns) – broad-band sensitivity to stars and galaxies
  • Band 2 – 4.6 micrometres – detect thermal radiation from the internal heat sources of sub-stellar objects like brown dwarfs
  • Band 3 – 12 micrometres – detect thermal radiation from asteroids
  • Band 4 – 22 micrometres – sensitivity to dust in star-forming regions (material with temperatures of 70–100 kelvins)

The primary mission lasts ten months: one month for checkout, six months for a full-sky survey, then an additional three months of survey until cryogenic coolant runs out. The partial second survey pass will facilitate the study of changes (e.g. orbital movement) in observed objects.

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