The Catalyst

By Jesse Siddeek, Reporter

NASA launched a new telescope into orbit on Monday at 9:09 a.m. from Vandenberg Air Force Base located in California. The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, otherwise known was WISE, will orbit 326 miles above Earth for the next 9 months.

Its lens snaps a picture every 11 seconds and each picture will cover an area of space that is the larger than 3 full moons. The telescope is searching for objects such as comets or asteroids that could potentially harm the Earth. It will also study the stars and other galaxies. WISE uses infrared camera that objects that radiate heat and light. These are objects that other telescopes, such as The Hubble, would miss. This telescope will be a tremendous help to scientists because it maps out our solar system. After six months in orbit, the telescope will have taken pictures of the entire sky.

The same mission was done 26 years ago with a telescope named the Infrared Astronomical Satellite. It discovered 6 comets while in orbit. This satellite is nothing compared to WISE. Infrared technology has come a long way since then. The pictures provided by WISE are of much better quality then the telescope that was launched in 1983.

This new telescope is a bid advance in space technology. The WISE telescope will bring in a lot of new information about our galaxy and the universe that surrounds us.