The entire sky as mapped by NASA WISE at infrared wavelengths is shown here, with an artist concept of the WISE satellite superimposed.

On the morning of February 1, 2011, NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, took its last snapshot of the sky. WISE final picture shows thousands of stars in a patch of the Milky Way galaxy in the constellation Perseus.

The red smudge at the center of this image is the first comet discovered by NASA Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. The comet is a dusty mass of ice and parades around the sun every 4.7 years.

NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, back-end imager optics. This picture shows the imager optics which are mounted at the back of the optical system.

Unicorns and roses are usually the stuff of fairy tales, but a new cosmic image taken by NASA WISE mission shows the Rosette nebula in the constellation Monoceros, or the Unicorn.

NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, spacecraft sits on the test stand after connection to the conical adapter.

Workers check NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, spacecraft as it is lowered onto a work stand.

A galaxy cluster 7.7 billion light-years away has been discovered using infrared data from NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer WISE. The discovery image is shown in the main panel.

Initial assembly of NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer cryostat. The cryostat is a 2-stage solid hydrogen dewar that is used to cool the WISE optics and detectors. Here the cryostat internal structures are undergoing their initial vacuum pumpdown.

A view of the flexure springs in the soft ride being mated to the payload attach fitting for NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, spacecraft.

This chart shows what types of objects WISE can and cannot see at certain distances from our sun. Bodies with larger masses are brighter, and therefore can be seen at greater distances.

The dusty face of the Eagle Nebula and its surroundings are revealed in this image based on data from NASA's Wide Field Survey Explorer (WISE). WISE detects infrared light, or a range of wavelengths longer than what the human eye can see. This large star forming region is about 5,700 light years away from Earth and is most famous for being home to the the "Pillars of Creation," a region famously imaged by NASA's Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. The WISE data reveals the entire structure of the nebula surrounding the pillars, which themselves can be seen as a faint yellow-green feature inside the white circle. While the WISE view of the "Pillars" is not as sharp as those taken by Webb and Hubble, the telescope's wide field of view allows us to explore the extended nebula around it. When viewed in visible light, the dust is dark and opaque. In these infrared wavelengths, the dust becomes more translucent, and emits infrared light, shown in green, yellow, and red in this image. The data used in this image came from WISE's primary mission which ran from 2009 to 2011. In 2013, NASA took the spacecraft out of hibernation and began using it to track and study near-Earth objects. The mission and the spacecraft were renamed NEOWISE. However, the data is still being used by astronomers to study objects and regions outside our solar system. Blue and cyan are used to represent infrared light at wavelengths of 3.4 and 4.6 microns, while green and red display longer wavelengths of 12 and 22 microns, respectively. Animation available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25433

A scaffolding structure built around NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer allows engineers to freeze its hydrogen coolant. The WISE infrared instrument is kept extremely cold by a bottle-like tank filled with frozen hydrogen, called the cryostat.

During its one-year mission, NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, mapped the entire sky in infrared light. Among the multitudes of astronomical bodies that have been discovered by the NEOWISE portion of the WISE mission are 20 comets.

This infrared image shows NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer WISE rocketing into the sky just before dawn on Dec. 14 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. All systems are behaving as expected.

At Vandenberg Air Force Base Astrotech processing facility in California, NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, spacecraft is being lifted from a work stand.

This is a mosaic of the images covering the entire sky as observed by NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer WISE, part of its All-Sky Data Release. In this mosaic, the Milky Way Galaxy runs horizontally across the map.

At Vandenberg Air Force Base Astrotech processing facility in California, NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, spacecraft is lowered toward the flight conical adapter and test stand.

This mosaic of images covering the entire sky was observed by NASA WISE telescope and is part of its All-Sky Data Release. The projection used in this image of the sky is called an equirectangular.

WISE J104915.57-531906, center of the larger image, was taken by the NASA WISE. This is the closest star system discovered since 1916, and the third closest to our sun. It is 6.5 light-years away.

This image is a map of the portion of the sky covered by the preliminary release of WISE data. WISE surveyed the entire sky in four infrared wavelengths in 2010. This map is centered on the Milky Way galaxy.

The third closest star system to the sun, called WISE J104915.57-531906, center of large image, which was taken by NASA WISE. It appeared to be a single object, but a sharper image from Gemini Observatory, revealed that it was binary star system.

The asteroid Euphrosyne glides across a field of background stars in this time-lapse view from NASA's WISE spacecraft. WISE obtained the images used to create this view over a period of about a day around May 17, 2010, during which it observed the asteroid four times. Because WISE (renamed NEOWISE in 2013) is an infrared telescope, it senses heat from asteroids. Euphrosyne is quite dark in visible light, but glows brightly at infrared wavelengths. This view is a composite of images taken at four different infrared wavelengths: 3.4 microns (color-coded blue), 4.6 microns (cyan), 12 microns (green) and 22 microns (red). The moving asteroid appears as a string of red dots because it is much cooler than the distant background stars. Stars have temperatures in the thousands of degrees, but the asteroid is cooler than room temperature. Thus the stars are represented by shorter wavelength (hotter) blue colors in this view, while the asteroid is shown in longer wavelength (cooler) reddish colors. The WISE spacecraft was put into hibernation in 2011 upon completing its goal of surveying the entire sky in infrared light. WISE cataloged three quarters of a billion objects, including asteroids, stars and galaxies. In August 2013, NASA decided to reinstate the spacecraft on a mission to find and characterize more asteroids. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19645

A new infrared image from NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, showcases the Tadpole nebula, and asteroids that just happened to be cruising by.

This artistically enhanced image from NASA WISE data shows galaxies clumped together in the Fornax cluster, located 60 million light-years from Earth.

This image from NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, features a region of star birth wrapped in a blanket of dust, colored green in this infrared view.

An infrared portrait of the Witch Head nebula from NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, shows billowy clouds where new stars are brewing.

NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, helped lead astronomers to what appears to be a new example of a dancing black hole duo.

This infographic explains a popular theory of active supermassive black holes, referred to as the unified model -- and how new data from NASA WISE, is at conflict with the model.

It a dust bunny of cosmic proportions. Astronomers used images from NASA WISE to locate an aging star shedding loads of dust orange dot at upper left.

In 2010, NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission observed the entire sky twice. Astronomers used these data to point out the X-shaped structure in the bulge of the Milky Way, contained in the small circle at center, as well as the inset image. The circled central portion covers roughly the area of sky that would be blocked by a basketball when held out at arm's length. Dustin Lang, an astronomer at the Dunlap Institute of the University of Toronto, used these data to make this map, which shows the full 360-degree panorama of the sky as seen by WISE. Lang collaborated with Melissa Ness, postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany, http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20699

This artist concept illustrates the first known Earth Trojan asteroid, discovered by NEOWISE, the asteroid-hunting portion of NASA WISE mission. The asteroid is shown in gray and its extreme orbit is shown in green. Objects are not drawn to scale.

The Flame Nebula sits on the eastern hip of Orion the Hunter, a constellation most easily visible in the northern hemisphere during winter evenings in this view from NASA WISE Telescope.

Observations from NASA WISE all-sky survey reveal new clues about Jovian Trojans, mysterious asteroids that orbit in front of and behind Jupiter in its path around the sun seen here in an artist’s concept.

Some say the science instrument on NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mission resembles the Star Wars robot R2-D2. The instrument is enclosed in a solid-hydrogen cryostat, which cools the WISE telescope and detectors.

This mosaic from NASA WISE Telescope is of the Soul Nebula. It is an open cluster of stars surrounded by a cloud of dust and gas located about 6,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia, near the Heart Nebula.

Best known as a swan winging its way across the night, the constellation Cygnus is easily seen in the northern hemisphere summertime sky. NASA WISE telescope captured this image of a huge complex of star-forming clouds and stellar clusters.

There something special going on in the nearby Circinus galaxy, as revealed by this image from NASA WISE telescope. The Circinus galaxy is located in the constellation of Circinus and is obscured by the plane of our Milky Way galaxy.

This image from NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, is a view of an area of the sky over 12 times the size of the full Moon on the border of the constellations Sagittarius and Corona Australis.

This plot illustrates the new population of hot DOGs, or hot dust-obscured objects, found by WISE. The purple band represents the range of brightness observed for the extremely dusty objects.

The Orion nebula is featured in this sweeping image from NASA WISE. The constellation of Orion is prominent in the evening sky throughout the world from about December through April of each year.

NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer captured this colorful image of the reflection nebula IRAS 12116-6001. This cloud of interstellar dust cannot be seen directly in visible light, but WISE detectors observed the nebula at infrared wavelengths.

This artist conception shows the object named WISE J085510.83-071442.5, the coldest known brown dwarf. Brown dwarfs are dim star-like bodies that lack the mass to burn nuclear fuel as stars do.

This image from NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, is a view within the constellation Cassiopeia of another portion of the vast star forming complex that makes up part of the Perseus spiral arm of the Milky Way Galaxy.

NASA WISE has identified about 1,000 extremely obscured objects over the sky, as marked by the magenta symbols. These hot dust-obscured galaxies, or hot DOGs, are turning out to be among the most luminous.

A dying star, called the Helix nebula, is shown surrounded by the tracks of asteroids in an image captured by NASA WISE. Skirting around the edges of the Helix nebula are the footprints of asteroids marching across the field of view.

Radiation and winds from massive stars have blown a cavity into the surrounding dust and gas, creating the Trifid nebula, as seen here in infrared light by NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.

Galaxy Messier 74, with its spiral arms seen face-on, is in the center of this image captured by NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, while an asteroid tracks its way across the sky.

This artist concept shows the NASA WISE spacecraft, in its orbit around Earth. In September of 2013, engineers will attempt to bring the mission out of hibernation to hunt for more asteroids and comets in a project called NEOWISE.

This image from NASA WISE spacecraft shows a blazar, a voracious supermassive black hole inside a galaxy with a jet that happens to be pointed right toward Earth. Active black holes are often found at the hearts of elliptical galaxies.

This frame from an animation illustrates asteroid-hunting results from NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, taken during its one-year survey of the sky in infrared light.

This image zooms in on the region around the first hot DOG red object in magenta circle, discovered by NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. Hot DOGs are hot dust-obscured galaxies.

Listed as Cassiopeia A, this remnant of the supernova is one of the brightest radio sources in the known universe. More recently, NASA WISE telescope detected infrared echoes of the flash of light rippling outwards from the supernova.

NEOWISE, the asteroid-hunting portion of NASA WISE mission, illustrates the differences between orbits of a typical near-Earth asteroid blue and a potentially hazardous asteroid, or PHA orange. PHAs are a subset of the near-Earth asteroids NEAs.

Peering more than 10 billion light-years into the distance, WISE has found tens of millions of actively feeding supermassive lack holes across the full sky. The orange circles highlight those that the telescope identified in a small patch of sky; the two zoomed-in images came from the Hubble Space Telescope. WISE easily sees these monsters because their powerful, accreting black holes warm the dust, causing it to glow in infrared light. The blue circles indicate black holes that were detected using visible-light imagers. In most, that light is blocked by dust. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23588

Astronomers using data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, are helping to trace the shape of our Milky Way galaxy's spiral arms. This illustration shows where WISE data revealed clusters of young stars shrouded in dust, called embedded clusters, which are known to reside in spiral arms. The bars represent uncertainties in the data. The nearly 100 clusters shown here were found in the arms called Perseus, Sagittarius-Carina, and Outer -- three of the galaxy's four proposed primary arms. Our sun resides in a spur to an arm, or a minor arm, called Orion Cygnus. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19341

The red dot at the center of this image is the first near-Earth asteroid discovered by NASA Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE -- an all-sky mapping infrared mission designed to see all sorts of cosmic objects.

This image from NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer is a mosaic of 3 individual WISE frames spanning an area on the sky about 7 times the size of the full Moon in portions of the constellations Bootes and Canes Venatici.

NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer has uncovered the coldest brown dwarf known so far green dot in very center of this infrared image. WISE 1828+2650 is located in the constellation Lyra. The blue dots are a mix of stars and galaxies.

This image composite shows two views of a puffy, dying star, or planetary nebula, known as NGC 1514. At left is a view from a ground-based, visible-light telescope; the view on the right shows the object in infrared light from NASA WISE telescope.

This mosaic of images from NASA WISE Telescope is in the constellation of Cassiopeia. This region contains a large star forming nebula within the Milky Way Galaxy, sometimes called the Heart Nebula, and is over 6 thousand light-years from Earth.

This image is a portion of the all-sky survey from NASA WISE. It highlights the first of about 1,000 hot DOGs found by the mission magenta circle. Hot DOGs are hot dust-obscured galaxies and are among the most powerful galaxies known.

This artist concept illustrates what the flaring black hole called GX 339-4 might look like. Infrared observations from NASA WISE reveal the best information yet on the chaotic and extreme environments of this black hole jets.

With its all-sky infrared survey, NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, has identified millions of quasar candidates. Quasars are supermassive black holes with masses millions to billions times greater than our sun.

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of the launch of NASA Wide-Field Infrared Explorer, the mission team put together this image showing just a sample of the millions of galaxies that have been imaged by WISE during its survey of the entire sky.

This image shows our own back yard, astronomically speaking, from a vantage point about 30 light-years away from the sun. It highlights the population of tiny brown dwarfs recently discovered by NASA WISE. The image simulates actual positions of stars.

Is it a bird, or a plane? No, it comet Siding Spring streaking across the sky, as seen by NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. An animation is available at the Photojournal.

This image is an all-sky infrared map consisting of data taken by previous missions: the Infrared Astronomical Satellite; NASA Cosmic Background Explorer; and the Two-Micron All-Sky Survey.

This image shows the famous Pleiades cluster of stars as seen through the eyes of NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer; they are what astronomers call an open cluster of stars, loosely bound to each other to eventually go their separate ways.

This image shows NASA 40 cm diameter Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer telescope. Here the lead optical test engineer attaches the back-end imager optics to the afocal.

New stars are forming inside this giant cloud of dust and gas as seen in infrared light by NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, spanning across the constellation Vela.

Asteroid 2010 TK7, the first known Earth Trojan asteroid, is circled in green, in this single frame taken by NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. The majority of the other dots are stars or galaxies far beyond our solar system.

This infrared snapshot of a region in the constellation Carina near the Milky Way was taken shortly after NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer ejected its cover. The first-light picture shows thousands of stars and covers an area three times the s

This image captured by NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer shows of one of our closest neighboring galaxies, Messier 33. Also named the Triangulum galaxy, M33 is one of largest members in our small neighborhood of galaxies -- the Local Group.

NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer in the clean room at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., in Boulder, Colo.

The science instrument on NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer is shown here with its aperture cover removed, during assembly at the Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah.

Sending chills down the spine of all arachnophobes is the Tarantula nebula, seen in this image from NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer; the nebula is the largest star-forming region known in our entire Local Group of galaxies.

NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer highlights the Small Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy about 200,000 light-years away. Located in the constellation Tucana, the Small Magellanic Cloud looks like a wispy cloud encircling the south celestial pole.

A colorful collection of galaxy specimens from NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mission showcases galaxies of several types, from elegant grand design spirals to more patchy flocculent spirals.

This artist's impression shows galaxy WISE J224607.55-052634.9 (W2246-0526 for short), the most luminous galaxy ever discovered. A new study using data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) shows that W2246-0526 is syphoning dust and other material from three of its smaller galactic neighbors. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22358

This artist's concept depicts the current record holder for the most luminous galaxy in the universe. The galaxy, named WISE J224607.57-052635.0, is erupting with light equal to more than 300 trillion suns. It was discovered by NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. The galaxy is smaller than the Milky Way, yet puts out 10,000 times more energy. Scientists think that a supermassive black hole at the center of this dusty galaxy is busily consuming gaseous material in a colossal growth spurt. As the gas is dragged toward the black hole, it heats up and blasts out visible, ultraviolet and X-ray light. The dust swaddling the galaxy absorbs this light and heats up, radiating longer-wavelength, infrared light. The dust also blocks our view of shorter, visible-light wavelengths, while letting longer-wavelengths through. This is similar to what happens when sunlight streams through our dusty atmosphere, producing a brilliant red sunrise. In fact, more than 99 percent of the light escaping from this dusty galaxy is infrared. As a result, it is much harder to see with optical telescopes. Because light from the galaxy hosting the black hole has traveled 12.5 billion years to reach us, astronomers are seeing the object as it was in the distant past. During this epoch, galaxies would have been more than five times closer together than they are now, as illustrated in the background of the artist's concept. This is due to the expansion of space -- space itself and the galaxies in it are stretching apart from each other at ever-increasing speeds. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19339

This artist concept shows NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer rotating in space, revealing all sides of the spacecraft.

This frame from a video demonstrates how NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer surveys asteroids and comets in the solar system. Perspective shown here is looking down from high above Earth North Pole, a kind of bird eye view of the solar system.

NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer is shown inside one-half of the nose cone, or fairing, that will protect it during launch.

NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer is shown inside one-half of the nose cone, or fairing, that will protect it during launch.

This image from NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer features comet 65/P Gunn. Comets are balls of dust and ice left over from the formation of the solar system. The comet tail is seen here in red trailing off to the right of the comet nucleus.

A rich collection of colorful astronomical objects is revealed in this picturesque image of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex from NASA Wide-field Infrared Explorer; the cloud is found rising above the plane of the Milky Way in the night sky.

NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer has seen a cluster of newborn stars enclosed in a cocoon of dust and gas in the constellation Camelopardalis.

NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey captured this view of a runaway star racing away from its original home. Surrounded by a glowing cloud of gas and dust, the star AE Aurigae appears on fire. Appropriately, the cloud is called the Flaming Star nebula.

NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer spacecraft sits with its protective covering.

This image from NASA Wide-Field Infrared Explorer features two stunning galaxies engaged in an intergalactic dance. The galaxies, Messier 81 and Messier 82, swept by each other a few hundred million years ago.

In the Perseus spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy, opposite the galactic center, lies the nebula SH 2-235. As seen in infrared light, NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer reveals SH 2-235 to be a huge star formation complex.

NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer is shown inside one-half of the nose cone, or fairing, that will protect it during launch.

The tiny red spot in this image is one of the most efficient star-making galaxies ever observed, converting gas into stars at the maximum possible rate. The galaxy is shown here is from NASA WISE, which first spotted the rare galaxy in infrared light.

This illustration shows a glowing stream of material from a star as it is being devoured by a supermassive black hole in a tidal disruption flare. When a star passes within a certain distance of a black hole -- close enough to be gravitationally disrupted -- the stellar material gets stretched and compressed as it falls into the black hole. In the process of being accreted, the gas heats up and creates a lot of optical and ultraviolet light, which destroys nearby dust but merely heats dust further out. The farther dust that is heated emits a large amount of infrared light. In recent years, a few dozen such flares have been discovered, but they are not well understood. Astronomers gained new insights into tidal disruption flares thanks to data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). Studies using WISE data characterized tidal disruption flares by studying how surrounding dust absorbs and re-emits their light, like echoes. This approach allowed scientists to measure the energy of flares from stellar tidal disruption events more precisely than ever before. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20027

Bow shocks thought to mark the paths of massive, speeding stars are highlighted in these images from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. Cosmic bow shocks occur when massive stars zip through space, pushing material ahead of them in the same way that water piles up in front of a race boat. The stars also produce high-speed winds that smack into this compressed material. The end result is pile-up of heated material that glows in infrared light. In these images, infrared light has been assigned the colored red. Green shows wispy dust in the region and blue shows stars. The two images at left are from Spitzer, and the one on the right is from WISE. The speeding stars thought to be creating the bow shocks can be seen at the center of each arc-shaped feature. The image at right actually consists of two bow shocks and two speeding stars. All the speeding stars are massive, ranging from about 8 to 30 times the mass of our sun. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20062

NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer arrives at Vandenberg Air Force Base

Data from NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer has led to revisions in the estimated population of near-Earth asteroids. The most accurate survey to date has allowed new estimates of the total numbers of objects in different size categories.

This colorful picture is a mosaic of Messier 8, or the Lagoon nebula, taken by NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. This nebula is composed of clouds of gas and dust in which new stars are forming.

NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer spacecraft is situated on a work stand. At left on the spacecraft is the fixed panel solar array. In front, the square is the HGA Slotted Array Ku-Band.