The Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer

The Wide field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) is a NASA Medium Class Explorer mission which launched in December, 2009. WISE has performed an all-sky survey in four infrared wavelength bands. The science payload is a 40-cm cryogenically cooled infrared telescope with four 1024x1024 pixel infrared focal plane arrays covering the wavelength range from 2.6 to 26 $\mu $m. The WISE optics and focal planes are cooled to cryogenic temperatures by a solid hydrogen cryogenic system. WISE completed its all-sky survey in July 2010. The survey has been highly successful, with millions of images collected, and nearly daily discoveries of previously unknown astronomical objects, including asteroids, brown dwarfs, and ultra-luminous infrared galaxies. The WISE science payload was designed, built, and characterized by the Space Dynamics Laboratory at Utah State University.