Late last year, NASA launched the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) telescope. This space-born telescope has a 16 inch diameter and surveys light in the infrared wavelengths. The telescope’s focal planes and optics are cooled with a two-stage solid-hydrogen cryostat. This gives the mission an expected lifetime of 10 months. Over that time, it will take one image about every 11 seconds for about 1.5 million images in total.
The WISE team recently released an image of “Tycho’s Supernova”, also known by the more colorful name of SN 1572. This supernova became visible to Earth sometime between November 2 and 6, 1572. At that time, the supernova was as bright as Venus during the daytime. The remnants of this supernova are seen as the red circle in the upper left side of the image. The supernova is located some 7,500 light years from Earth.
In the center of the image is the nebula S175. Inside this nebula there are stars that are being formed that heat this cloud causing it to radiate. S175 is approximately 3,500 light years away from Earth.
All four infrared detectors aboard WISE were used to make this mosaic. The image spans an area of 1.6 x 1.6 degrees on the sky or about 3 times as wide and high as the full Moon. Color is representational: blue and cyan represent infrared light at wavelengths of 3.4 and 4.6 microns, which is dominated by light from stars. Green and red represent light at 12 and 22 microns, which is mostly light from warm dust.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/WISE Team
