| Speaker: | Edward Wright (UCLA) |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer: Implementation and Solar System Science |
| Date (JST): | Mon, Nov 12, 2012, 16:00 - 17:30 |
| Place: | Seminar Room A |
| Related File: | 813.pdf |
| Abstract: |
WISE is a medium Explorer (MidEx) launched by NASA on 14 Dec 2009. It surveyed the entire sky in 4 mid-infrared bands centered at 3.4, 4.6, 12 and 22 microns, and continued to survey in 3 then 2 bands (3.4 and 4.6 microns) until 1 Feb 2011, covering the whole sky twice. WISE was first proposed in 1998, but it is basically a greatly improved version of the Near Infrared Astronomical Satellite (NIRAS) proposed in 1988. Rapid improvement in infrared array technology made a very powerful survey mission like WISE practical. At 12 microns a large fraction of the sources seen on single frames near the ecliptic are asteroids. WISE ran a special processing pipeline to find moving sources quickly and reported over 3.75 million observations to the IAU Minor Planet Center, leading to diameter measurements of over 150,000 asteroids and the discovery of over 32,000 objects, including over 130 Near Earth Objects. |
