The now-retired mission still offers a treasure trove of data.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/IPAC
Although it completed its mission in July, NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) still has interesting archival data covering the solar system thanks to the team at the Infrared Processing & Analysis Center (IPAC) at Caltech.
After the spacecraft burned up in the atmosphere in November, IPAC completed a final data release of NEOWISE. This totaled more than 26 million images, which included its 21 complete sky surveys.
Previously launched as NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission in 2009, it searched for black holes and other deep-sky objects. It went dormant for a time until it was started again as NEOWISE in 2013, to search for near-Earth objects (NEOs) including comets and asteroids.
All six pictures shown from this release are infrared images taken during the WISE mission. Each contains stars at wavelengths of 3.4 and 4.6 microns, colored blue and cyan, while the light at 12 microns is dust, colored green. And the wavelength of 22 microns shows warm gases in red.
The California Nebula (NGC 1499, above)
Located in the constellation Perseus the Hero, the California Nebula spans 100 light-years. The Nebula displays a bright green color with a mix of orange, while the red at the center is gas surrounding the young, hot star Menkib (Xi Persei).
This fourth-magnitude star puts out 300,000 times the amount of energy as our Sun and its surface temperature reaches 66,000 F (37,000 C). Menkib creates a bow shock when fast-moving stellar winds from the star crash into interstellar dust and gas, creating a pile up. The resulting dust is heated up and appears red in the image.
The Gecko Nebula (LBN 437)
Part of Beverly T. Lynds’ “Catalogue of Bright Nebulae,” this star field is named because of what resembles a lizard’s pointed head near the center of the image. It is located in the constellation Lacerta the Lizard.
Where the reptile’s nose would be is an infant star with a bright reddish-orange hue. This baby star is constantly feeding off of matter and expelling it, sweeping away the billowing dust that surrounds it. These traits are associated with Herbig-Haro objects.
NGC 5367
Known as a cometary globule called CG12, this nebula is embellished by its dusty “tail” similar to that of a comet. Difficult to see in visible light, cometary globules look far better when imaged in the infrared. This globule is located in the constellation Centaurus.
Vela dust clouds
The tips of galactic arms and dusty pillars between the constellations Centaurus and Vela create dense homes for new stars. In the thinner sections of dust ultraviolet radiation from the stars has cut through it creating the green fingers in the image.
Veil of Aries
This area of the sky in the constellation Aries is doesn’t have a common name, however it offers a look into star formation in the region. Although it looks like a nebula, it was actually given the name “infrared cirrus” because it is a large patch of dusty clouds created by the magnetic fields of stars. The brownish green strip cutting across the bottom right to the middle left of the image is zodiacal dust. This material is created by collisions of asteroids or comets within our solar system.
NGC 2170
This molecular cloud in the constellation Monoceros the Unicorn is the location of NGC 2170, the brightest section of the image. Dotted with dozens of bright blue and red stars, the emission nebula is home to many young stars although some are hidden by layers of dust.
