NASA discovers new stars, comets and galaxy

New York, Jul 19: NASA discovered an array of new space objects including stars, asteroids, dust clouds, comets and even a new galaxy.

NASA's newest space telescope, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), has for the first time identified thousands of previously unseen space objects.

Using technology to photograph the entire night sky one and half times in infra-red light, NASA that the $320 million sky-mapping spacecraft detected more than 25,000 new asteroids since beginning operations late in 2009.

The telescope also sighted 15 new comets and hundreds of potential brown dwarfs, or failed stars. It also confirmed the existence of 20 dwarfs, including some of the coldest ever known.

WISE completed its first full scan of the sky on Saturday, Jul 17 before beginning another round of imaging in what NASA hopes will pick up even more objects.

Researchers in NASA expects that by the end of 2010 they can make a cosmic census of millions of new-found objects that should help answer questions about how planets, stars and galaxies form.

OneIndia News