Description: Planetary Research Scientist
The Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) and IPAC at Caltech announce the NEOWISE 2021 Data Release.
The 2021 Release includes all data acquired during the seventh year of the NEOWISE Reactivation mission (Mainzer et al. 2014, ApJ, 792, 30), December 13, 2019, to December 13, 2020. These data are combined with those from Years 1-6 NEOWISE into a single archive that contains approximately 17.8 million sets of 3.4 and 4.6 micron images and a database of ~133 billion source detections.
NEOWISE scanned the sky fourteen (14) complete times during the first seven survey years, with approximately six months between survey passes. With twelve or more independent 3.4 and 4.6 micron exposures made on each sky position during each epoch, the NEOWISE archive is a time-domain resource for extracting multiple, independent thermal flux and position measurements of Solar System small bodies, as well as background galactic and extragalactic sources.