The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, was a NASA space telescope launched into polar orbit by a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg. Its 40-centimetre telescope surveyed the entire sky in four infrared wavelengths, finding millions of objects including distant galaxies, cool brown dwarfs and asteroids. The coolant that kept its detectors cold ran out in 2010, and the mission continued for some time using only its shorter wavelengths. In 2013 it was reactivated as NEOWISE to search for near-Earth objects and comets, including the bright Comet NEOWISE of 2020. The spacecraft was decommissioned in 2024.
Before and after
- 27 October 2009Release of League of Legends
- 10 November 2009Creation of Go
- 28 November 2009Construction of Moses Mabhida Stadium
- 14 December 2009Construction of Cape Town Stadium
- 14 December 2009Launch of Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer
- 16 December 2009Release of Avatar
- 2010European sovereign-debt crisis
- 20102010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull
- 2010Crisis in Venezuela
More in Universe & space
- 1 May 1949Discovery of Nereid
- 20 August 1977Launch of Voyager 2
- 28 July 1989Discovery of Galatea
- 23 July 1995Discovery of Comet Hale-Bopp
- 15 May 2005Discovery of Hydra
- 10 September 2005Discovery of Dysnomia
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 21st century.