This diagram shows a brown dwarf in relation to Earth, Jupiter, a low-mass star and the sun.
NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or Wise, is chilled out, sporting a sunshade and getting ready to roll.
Engineers are busy cooling the science instrument on NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.
NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, has arrived at its last stop on Earth -- Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
This diagram shows a brown dwarf in relation to Earth, Jupiter, a low-mass star and the sun.
Astronomers think there are roughly as many brown dwarfs as regular stars like our sun, but brown dwarfs are often too cool to find using visible light.
The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, in the clean room at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., in Boulder, Colo.
WISE Launch
No earlier than December 9, 2009, 6:10 am PST:
NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer will provide a map to the universe’s hidden treasures.
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This artist's animation shows NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, rotating in space, revealing all sides of the spacecraft.
This animation illustrates the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer's 11-second data-taking exposure cycle.