OK, this week's post is a cheat... but only because it is so incredibly cool. Space.com just posted images form NASA's WISE orbiting telescope, launched in 2009 and shut down in February 2011. The reason for the short lifespan? For one thing, the liquid hydrogen coolant that allowed the 'scope to function at infrared wavelengths ran out, and for another, NASA's funding ran out, so an extended mission was not approved. A pity that, for as JPL has so ably proved over the years, an asset in place (i.e., one that has left Earth's gravity well) is always more valuable than another on the drawing board. But what a haul WISE made! Check out these images, all in the infrared and enhanced for human viewing.
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