A tireless sentinel in Earth’s orbit is celebrating a major milestone. NEOWISE, NASA’s repurposed space telescope, has spent the last ten years ceaselessly scanning the heavens. Its mission: to safeguard our planet by meticulously tracking the movements of asteroids and comets, particularly those lurking within our cosmic neighborhood.

The results are staggering. Since reactivating in 2014, this infrared observatory has amassed an astounding 1.45 million observations of over 44,000 objects in our solar system. NEOWISE can claim credit for finding 3,000 near-Earth objects (NEOs) – 215 entirely new to science. Twenty-five of these are comets, including Comet NEOWISE, a dazzling visitor that graced Northern Hemisphere skies in 2020.

“NEOWISE provides a unique perspective on the population of NEOs,” notes Amy Mainzer, principal investigator for the mission at the University of Arizona. “Using infrared, it reveals characteristics like size and composition that are vital in understanding their origins and potential risk.”

The telescope is no stranger to spotlighting potentially hazardous asteroids. In 2021, it played a key role in an international exercise simulating Earth’s response to the fictional, but troublingly realistic, threat of asteroid Apophis.

But NEOWISE has proven its worth far beyond the realm of planetary defense. Astronomers mine its treasure trove of data to probe asteroid families, distantly orbiting comets, and other phenomena that shed light on the evolution of our solar system.

Originally dubbed WISE (Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer), the spacecraft launched in 2009. After completing its primary astrophysics mission in 2011, NASA placed it in hibernation. Recognizing its untapped potential, the agency tapped it for a new life in late 2013 as an NEO surveyor.

While ten years is a significant achievement, the NEOWISE team isn’t resting on their laurels. The veteran telescope has plenty of work left to do, continuing to add to our understanding of the cosmic bodies that share our solar system and the risks they may pose.

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