Tag: NEOWISE
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NASA shuts down asteroid-hunting telescope, but a better one is on the way
Last week, NASA decommissioned a nearly 15-year-old spacecraft that discovered 400 near-Earth asteroids and comets, closing an important chapter in the agency’s planetary defense program. From its position in low-Earth orbit, the spacecraft’s infrared telescope scanned the entire sky 23 times and captured millions of images, initially searching for infrared emissions from galaxies, stars, and…
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NASA shuts down asteroid-hunting telescope, but a better one is on the way
Last week, NASA decommissioned a nearly 15-year-old spacecraft that discovered 400 near-Earth asteroids and comets, closing an important chapter in the agency’s planetary defense program. From its position in low-Earth orbit, the spacecraft’s infrared telescope scanned the entire sky 23 times and captured millions of images, initially searching for infrared emissions from galaxies, stars, and…
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NASA sends final command to its NEOWISE spacecraft, ending more than a decade of asteroid observations
This 2013 artist’s concept shows the NASA’s WISE spacecraft, in its orbit around Earth. In September of 2013, engineers brought the mission out of hibernation to hunt for more asteroids and comets in a project called NEOWISE. Graphic: NASA A spacecraft that helped bolster planetary defense is now at the end of its operational mission.…
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With help from NEOWISE, astronomers observe giant star destroying planet for the first time
Using the California Institute of Technology’s (Caltech) Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) and NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) observatory, a group of scientists has observed an aging star destroying a planet within its own star system for the first time. Astronomers have long believed that such a phenomenon occurred in red giant…
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NASA to proceed with asteroid surveillance mission
Artist’s concept of the Near-Earth Object Camera, or NEOCam, spacecraft. NASA’s planned NEO Surveillance Mission will be similar to the NEOCam concept, which has been under study for more than a decade. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech After years of studies, NASA plans to move forward with a space-based telescope that could launch as soon as 2025 to…
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NASA science chief says NEO Surveillance Mission will seek out threatening asteroids
The NEO Surveillance Mission’s space telescope would take advantage of technologies developed for NEOCam, the proposed spacecraft shown in this artist’s conception. (IPAC / Caltech Illustration) The head of NASA’s science operations says the space agency intends to develop a new space-based infrared telescope to hunt down near-Earth objects — not primarily for science’s sake,…
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Tech titan Nathan Myhrvold revisits NASA asteroid argument in peer-reviewed paper
in his office at Intellectual Ventures in Bellevue, Wash., Nathan Myhrvold shows off a fragment of the Chelyabinsk meteorite, which was left behind by an asteroid impact in 2013. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) Nathan Myhrvold is back, and this time he’s got peer review on his side. Two years ago, the Seattle tech pioneer…
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NASA fires back at Nathan Myhrvold in spat over asteroid mission’s data
An artist’s conception shows NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, making observations. WISE observations of near-Earth objects were analyzed for the NEOWISE mission. (Credit: NASA) BELLEVUE, Wash. – NASA issued a statement today disputing Seattle tech icon Nathan Myhrvold’s critique of asteroid data analysis from the space agency’s NEOWISE mission. The statement follows up on reports…