WISE Discovers a Near Earth Object

Wise_wise2010-002_1024

wise_WISE2010-002 January 23rd, 2010

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA

The red dot at the center of this image is the first near-Earth asteroid discovered by NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE -- an all-sky mapping infrared mission designed to see all sorts of cosmic objects.

Near-Earth objects are asteroids and comets with orbits that come close to Earth's path around the sun. This particular asteroid is roughly one kilometer (0.6 miles) in diameter, and is currently about 158 million kilometers (98 million miles) away from Earth. Its elliptical-shaped orbit takes it out beyond Mars and back in about as close to the sun as Earth. Because the asteroid's orbit is tilted relative to the plane of our solar system, astronomers do not think it poses a hazard to our planet. As with all near-Earth objects, it will continue to be monitored.

The image shows three infrared wavelengths, with red representing the longest wavelength of 12 microns, and green and blue showing 4.6- and 3.4-micron light, respectively. The asteroid appears redder than the rest of the background stars because it is cooler and emits most of its light at longer infrared wavelengths. In visible light, this space rock is very faint and difficult to see.

WISE, which began its all-sky survey on Jan. 14, 2010, is expected to find about one hundred thousand new asteroids in the Main Belt between Mars and Jupiter, and hundreds of new near-Earth asteroids. It will also spot millions of new stars and galaxies.

Provider: Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer

Image Source: /image/wise/WISE2010-002

Curator: Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Berkeley, CA, USA

Image Use Policy: Pulic Domain

Download Options

  • Full Size Image (1464 x 1464)

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
WISE NEO
Subject - Solar System
Interplanetary Body > Asteroid
Wise_wise2010-002_128
 

Position Details

Position (FK5)
RA = 12h 43m 43.7s
DEC = -26° 4’ 13.6”
Orientation
North is 24.4° CW
Field of View
33.6 x 33.6 arcminutes
Constellation
Hydra

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue WISE Infrared (Near-IR) 3.4 µm
Green WISE Infrared (Near-IR) 4.6 µm
Red WISE Infrared (Mid-IR) 12.0 µm
Spectrum_ir1
Blue
Green
Red
Wise_wise2010-002_1280
×
ID
WISE2010-002
Subject Category
A.2.3.  
Subject Name
WISE NEO
Credits
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA
Release Date
2010-01-23
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
/image/wise/WISE2010-002
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
WISE, WISE, WISE
Instrument
Color Assignment
Blue, Green, Red
Band
Infrared, Infrared, Infrared
Bandpass
Near-IR, Near-IR, Mid-IR
Central Wavelength
3400, 4600, 12000
Start Time
2010-01-13T23:21, 2010-01-13T23:21, 2010-01-13T23:21
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
FK5
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
190.9320891734, -26.0704305833866
Reference Dimension
732, 732
Reference Pixel
468, 327
Scale
-7.65000000000000e-04, 7.65000000000000e-04
Rotation
-24.378938848563
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer
URL
http://wise.astro.ucla.edu
Name
Email
outreach@ssl.berkeley.edu
Telephone
Address
7 Gauss Way
City
Berkeley
State/Province
CA
Postal Code
94720
Country
USA
Rights
Pulic Domain
Publisher
Publisher ID
wise
Resource ID
Resource URL
/image/wise/WISE2010-002
Related Resources
Metadata Date
2018-01-11T02:35:32Z
Metadata Version
1.2
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×

There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

Providers | Sign In