Utah-made satellite makes pioneering observations

LOGAN, Utah (AP) – A NASA satellite made in Utah has discovered millions of black holes and 1,000 examples of a violent phenomenon that produces some of the brightest objects in the universe.

 

The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer satellite spent more than a year mapping the sky in the infrared range, a wavelength invisible to the human eye.

 

Utah State University’s Space Dynamics Laboratory designed and built the WISE.

 

NASA astronomer Daniel Stern calls the discovery of millions of black holes by WISE a “bonanza” for scientists. The Deseret News reports. WISE also has found 1,000 examples of “dust-obscured galaxies” that are luminous in infrared – tens of billions of times more luminous than the sun.

 

NASA launched the WISE in 2009 and nearly all of the observations took place in 2010.

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