Formerly the WISE space telescope, the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) spent its early life cataloguing dim-objects across the Galaxy. Equipped with an extremely sensitive cryo-cooled telescope, the WISE mission continued its survey until it ran out of hydrogen coolant in early 2011.
Since that time WISE has been in a restful phase, tumbling through a solar-synchronous orbit some 525 km (326 mi) above the Earth. That is, until last September when the satellite was reincarnated as NEOWISE and given a new mission to search for asteroids and comets that either represent exploration opportunities or could pose a threat to our planet.
After just over a year of scanning the skies, NEOWISE discovered its first potentially dangerous asteroid: 2013 YP139. This coal-black rock is currently 43M km (27M mi) from Earth and is roughly 650 m (0.4 mi) in diameter. By studying the movement of the asteroid against a static field of stars, NASA’s scientists have concluded that YP139 could pass within 480,000 km (300,000 mi) of Earth sometime in the next century.
While that prediction gives everyone currently residing on the planet plenty of time to get our ducks in a row, NASA’s discovery still highlights the advantage of surveying space for asteroids.
Throughout the duration of the NEOWISE mission, NASA expects the telescope to find some 150 near-Earth-objects and study about 2,000 more. As discoveries are made, the data will be shipped to the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where professional and amateur astronomers will be called upon to verify the satellite’s findings.
Given the potentially devastating effects of a massive asteroid collision, it would be prudent to begin investing a bit more into programs like NEOWISE lest we end up sharing the same fate as the dinosaurs.
Image Courtesy of NASA