The WISE Image Atlas is comprised of 10,464 4095x4095 pix at 1.375"/pix FITS format image sets. Each image set consists of:
The general properties and descriptions of the Atlas Image sets are presented in II.3. The algorithms used to produce the Atlas Image products are described in IV.6.a.
Users are strongly encouraged to read the Cautionary Notes for the Atlas Images, and to view the gallery of anomalies known to exist in the Images.
The general properties and a detailed format description of the Source Catalog are presented in II.2. A detailed description of the source detection and photometry algorithms used to generate the the Source Catalog can be found in IV.5. Users are strongly encouraged to read the Cautionary Notes before using the Catalog.
754,854 photometrically and astrometrically calibrated 1024x1024 pix at 2.75"/pix FITS image sets for each individual WISE exposure taken between 14 January and 29 April 2010. Each image set consists of:
The Single-Exposure Images were produced during data processing for the main WISE mission, as input for the generation and quality assessment of the Atlas Image and Source Catalog. The long-term archive and access to the Single-Exposure images is made possible by the NEOWISE program.
The properties and descriptions of the Single-Exposure Image sets are presented in II.4.a. The algorithms used to produce the Single-Exposure images are described in IV.3.
Individual exposure images are made available even if they were of insufficient quality to be used in the construction of the coadded Image Atlas. Users are strongly encouraged to read the Cautionary Notes for the Single-Exposure Images, and to view the gallery of anomalies known to exist in the Images.
The WISE Single-exposure Source Database is a compendium of position and flux information for 2,236,310,549 "sources" detected on the individual WISE 7.7s (W1/W2) and 8.8s (W3/W4) Single-exposure images. Because WISE scanned the same region of the sky multiple times, the Single-exposure Database contains multiple, independent measurements of objects on the sky. Positions, magnitudes in the four WISE bands, astrometric and photometric uncertainties, flags indicating measurement quality, the time of observations and associations with the 2MASS Point Source Catalog are presented for entries in the Database.
The Single-Exposure Source Database was produced during data processing for the main WISE mission, as input for the generation and quality assessment of the Atlas Image and Source Catalog. The long-term archive and access to the Single-Exposure Source Database is made possible by the NEOWISE program.
The general properties and a detailed format description of the Single-Exposure Source Database are presented in II.4.b. A detailed description of the source detection and photometry algorithms used to generate the the Single-exposure Database can be found in IV.3.
Entries in the Single-exposure Database include detections of real
astrophysical objects, as well as spurious extractions of low SNR noise
excursions, transient events such as cosmic ray strikes and noisy pixels,
and artifacts and scattered light from bright sources including the moon.
Many unreliable detections are flagged in the Single-exposure Database, but
they have not been filtered out as they were for the Source
Catalog. Therefore, the Database must be used with caution.
Users are strongly encouraged to read the
Cautionary Notes before using the Database.
As part of the NEOWISE program, Moving Object Tracklets of small bodies, i.e. asteroids, comets, and planetary satellites, were reported to the IAU Minor Planet Center (MPC) within 10 days of detection by the WISE spacecraft. These tracklets, comprised of both previously known and WISE-discovered solar system objects, were vetted by the MPC so that the remaining list is a highly reliable collection of solar system object detections. As of March 3, 2011, 1,988,009 vetted individual WISE detections of 158,285 small bodies are available from the MPC. These numbers may change depending on how WISE detections are linked with future observations.
Moving Object Tracklets were detected and reported to the
MPC
by the WISE Moving Object Pipeline System (WMOPS) that is described in
IV.4. The tracklet products and the means for
their retrieval are described in II.4.d.
The Known Solar System Object Possible Associations List contains 3,367,485 entries that correspond to 207,623 asteroids, comets, planets or planetary satellites, with orbits known at the time of WISE first-pass data processing, that were predicted to be within the field-of-view at the time of individual WISE exposures. Individual objects were observed multiple times, so may have multiple entires in the list. When the predicted position of a solar system object is in proximity to a detection in the WISE Single-exposures, the WISE source position and brightness information are also provided.
The purpose of the Known Solar System Object Possible Associations List is to advise users if a Single-exposure Source Database entry may be confused with or contaminated by a foreground solar system object. The List is not a vetted list of solar system object identifications. For a reliable, well-vetted list of WISE solar system object detections, please use the Moving Object Tracklets. Users are strongly encouraged to read the Cautionary Notes to understand the limitations of the Known Solar System Object Possible Associations List.
The format of the Known Solar System Object Associations table is given in II.4.i, and a description of the processing algorithms used to predict the positions of known solar system objects is given in IV.3.e.
Last update: 2011 July 18