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Welcome To the New Website
Welcome to Relaunch. Astronomy and Space News 2.0 is now online, though the grand opening is scheduled for December 15, 2009.
Hopefully, this will be a better experience for the reader. We have a new format and a whole new Blog. Be sure to check back regularly as we update and build. Feel free to leave your comments on the Blog and get involved in your new home for Astronomy and Space News.
In the meantime, with the holidays approaching, check out
our new Gift Guide, and
especially look at our new Holiday
Specials page.
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WISE Snug in Its Nose Cone
WISE in the fairing mate WISE is shown inside one-half of the nose cone, or fairing, that will protect it during launch. The spacecraft is clamped to the top of the rocket above the white conical fitting. The fairing will split open like a clamshell about five minutes after launch.
The fairing will split open like a clamshell about five minutes after launch. The spacecraft will circle Earth over the poles, scanning the entire sky one-and-a-half times in nine months. The mission will uncover hidden cosmic objects, including the coolest stars, dark asteroids and the most luminous galaxies.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages WISE for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The principal investigator, Edward Wright, is at UCLA. The mission was competitively selected under NASA's Explorers Program managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The science instrument was built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory, Logan, Utah, and the spacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. Science operations and data processing take place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.
Recent Updates
15 Minute
Introduction to the Night Sky People have been looking up at the night sky for as long as there have been people. Ancient people had many theories about what those strange lights in the sky were. Today, we know they are stars, like our own Sun, but to the early humans they were magical.
Coming soon: Sky Guides 2010