The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer at IPAC

The NEOWISE Post-Cryo Data Release
May 22, 2013

Access the Database and Image data via IRSA Read the Explanatory Supplement
Top Ten List of things you should know about the Post-Cryo Release Products
Post-Cryo Release sky coverage
WISE Project website WISE mission description paper
Contact the WISE Help Desk
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

The 2013 NEOWISE Post-Cryo Data Release contains 3.4 and 4.6 μm (W1 and W2) Single-exposure image and extracted source data that were acquired by Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE; Wright et al. 2010) following the exhaustion of solid hydrogen in the satellite's payload inner and outer cryogen tanks. During this period, known as the NEOWISE Post-Cryo survey phase, the WISE optics and focal plane assemblies warmed to 73.5 K, and the W1 and W2 HgCdTe detectors continued to operate with sensitivities close to those achieved during the full cryogenic mission phase. No useful data were obtained by WISE's 12 and 22 μm Si:As detectors because of the higher temperatures. WISE scanned approximately 70% of the sky during the Post-Cryo phase, completing a survey of the inner Main Asteroid Belt, and a second coverage epoch of the inertial sky.

The 2013 NEOWISE Post-Cryo Release supersedes the 2012 Post-Cryo Preliminary Release. The products in the 2013 Post-Cryo Release were generated from a complete second-pass data processing that utilized updated instrumental, astrometric and photometric calibrations and reduction algorithms that are tuned to the characteristics of the Post-Cryo survey data. The improved calibrations enabled source detection to be made to a much lower signal-to-noise ratio resulting in nearly a factor of two increase in the number of extractions compared to the earlier Post-Cryo Preliminary Data Release.

The WISE All-Sky Data Release that includes data taken during the mission's full cryogenic phase remains the best compendium of inertial sources of mid-infrared emission over the entire sky. The Post-Cryo Release image and source data provide the best individual flux and position measurements for solar system objects observed during the Post-Cryo survey phase that were identified by the WISE Moving Object Pipeline System, and they are a resource for following up time-dependent properties such as flux variability of inertial sources found in the WISE All-Sky Release.

NEOWISE Post-Cryo survey operations and the processing and release of Post-Cryo survey data are funded by the NASA Planetary Division as part of the NEOWISE program (Mainzer et al. 2011 ApJ, 731, 53), and by a grant from the NASA ROSES Near Earth Object Observation program.

NEOWISE Post-Cryo Data Release products include:

The Post-Cryo Release does not include coadded Atlas Images, or a deep source detection Catalog, like those that were included in the WISE All-Sky and 3-Band Cryo Data Releases.

Research using WISE/NEOWISE data is eligible for proposals to the NASA ROSES Planetary Mission and Astrophysics Data Analysis Programs.

Please include these acknowledgments in any published material that makes use of WISE and NEOWISE data products.


Sky Coverage

Figure 1 - Equatorial Aitoff projection sky map showing the average number of individual Single-exposures within 14´ × 14´ spatial bins acquired during the WISE Post-Cryo survey phase. Colors encode different frame depths-of-coverage as specified by the legend on the left.

WISE imaged approximately 70% of the sky in the W1 and W2 bands simultaneously with multiple, independent 7.7 sec exposures during its Post-Cryo survey phase. The Post-Cryo survey area covers two large regions bounded by the ecliptic longitude ranges:

89.4°<λ<221.8° and 280.6°<λ<48.1°

The survey scanning strategy resulted in 12 to 13 exposures of each point on the ecliptic plane. Coverage increases to over 1000 exposures at the ecliptic poles.


Data Access

The 2013 NEOWISE Post-Cryo Release data products can be accessed via the on-line and machine-friendly services of the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive (IRSA). IRSA services are VO compatible.

See section VIII.1.c of the NEOWISE Post-Cryo Release Explanatory Supplement for a complete description of how to access WISE data products.


Standard Acknowledgment for Use of WISE and NEOWISE Data in Publications

"This publication makes use of data products from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, which is a joint project of the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, and NEOWISE, which is a project of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology. WISE and NEOWISE are funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration."


Last update - 2013 May 22