WISE All-Sky Survey

WISE All-Sky Survey
Name	WISE All-Sky Survey
Mission type	Infrared astronomical survey
Operator	NASA
Manufacturer	Ball Aerospace
Launch date	2009-12-14
Launch vehicle	Delta II
Orbit	Sun-synchronous
Instruments	Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
Wavelength	3.4, 4.6, 12, 22 μm

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WISE All-Sky Survey

The WISE All-Sky Survey was a NASA-funded infrared sky survey conducted by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mission that mapped the entire celestial sphere in four mid-infrared bands, delivering a comprehensive catalog used across astrophysics by teams linked to NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Ball Aerospace, Caltech, University of Arizona, and international collaborators such as European Space Agency. The survey influenced observational programs at facilities including Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, Atacama Large Millimeter Array, and Chandra X-ray Observatory, and enabled research connecting to projects like Two Micron All-Sky Survey, Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Gaia (spacecraft), and Pan-STARRS.

Overview

The survey produced an all-sky map at 3.4, 4.6, 12, and 22 micrometers that cataloged stars, brown dwarfs, active galactic nuclei, and minor planets, underpinning studies by groups associated with Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Institute for Astronomy (University of Hawaii), Leiden Observatory, and National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Its datasets enabled cross-matching with legacy catalogs such as Hipparcos, Henry Draper Catalogue, Two Micron All-Sky Survey, Infrared Astronomical Satellite, and modern surveys like Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (now Vera C. Rubin Observatory), facilitating multiwavelength analyses by consortia linked to European Southern Observatory, National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory, and Space Telescope Science Institute.

The payload, built by Ball Aerospace and managed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory under a NASA Explorer program, comprised a 40 cm telescope feeding four infrared detector arrays developed with contributions from teams at Teledyne Imaging Sensors, University of California, Los Angeles, University of California, Berkeley, and University of Wisconsin–Madison. The spacecraft was launched on a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and operated in a Sun-synchronous polar orbit similar to missions like Landsat, enabling continuous, uniform coverage favored by planners from NASA Ames Research Center and Lockheed Martin. Thermal control relied on solid hydrogen cryogen suppliers coordinated with contractors experienced on Spitzer Space Telescope and Infrared Astronomical Satellite missions, while onboard electronics followed heritage from WISE (satellite) design teams and standards endorsed by National Aeronautics and Space Administration program offices.

WISE scanned the sky in a systematic pattern timed to the spacecraft orbital period to achieve overlap and redundancy comparable to strategies used by Two Micron All-Sky Survey and coordinated with cadence studies by groups at University of California, Berkeley and University of Maryland, College Park. Raw telemetry was downlinked to facilities such as Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex and processed by pipelines at IPAC and Jet Propulsion Laboratory where algorithms from researchers affiliated with Caltech and University of Michigan performed image calibration, artifact mitigation, astrometric registration against Gaia (spacecraft) and photometric calibration against standards tied to Cohen flux scales. Data reduction incorporated source extraction tools developed by scientists at Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and variability analysis methods used by teams from Princeton University and University of Cambridge.

Results included discovery and characterization of cool brown dwarfs linked to follow-up spectroscopy at Keck Observatory, Very Large Telescope, and Gemini Observatory; identification of obscured quasars and active galactic nuclei informing models from groups at Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology; mapping of star-forming regions studied by researchers at University of Colorado Boulder and SETI Institute; and improved orbital elements for near-Earth objects coordinated with Minor Planet Center and observers from Jet Propulsion Laboratory planetary defense efforts. WISE-enabled discoveries intersected studies by teams at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory on objects like Y dwarfs, collaborations with SOFIA investigators on infrared dust emission, and multiwavelength campaigns with Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope researchers on blazar populations.

The mission released Source Catalogs, Image Atlases, and Single-exposure frames through archives operated by Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive, and partner centers affiliated with European Space Agency science archives and national data centers in institutions such as Space Telescope Science Institute. Catalogs provided photometry, astrometry, and quality flags enabling cross-correlation with databases like SIMBAD, Vizier, and survey products from Sloan Digital Sky Survey teams, with data distribution practices aligned with policies from NASA and data stewardship models used by National Science Foundation-funded archives.

Follow-up efforts by observatories including Keck Observatory, Subaru Telescope, Atacama Large Millimeter Array, and James Webb Space Telescope targeted WISE-selected sources to refine spectral classifications and redshifts, with collaborative programs at University of California, Santa Cruz and University of Arizona leveraging the catalogs for time-domain astronomy. The survey legacy persists in mission concepts and surveys inspired within agencies such as NASA and European Space Agency, influencing proposals at National Science Foundation and instrumentation projects at Ball Aerospace and university optics labs, and continues to serve as a cornerstone for multi-messenger studies connecting to observatories like LIGO and IceCube Neutrino Observatory.

Category:Infrared astronomical surveys