NASA’s WISE spacecraft captures first cosmic targets

NASA releases first images from WISE spacecraft

PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s sky-mapping spacecraft has captured a hodgepodge of cosmic targets two months after its launch on a mission to map the entire sky.

NASA on Wednesday released the first images from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE for short, which spots celestial objects that give off infrared light.

The images revealed a glowing comet, a star-forming cloud, a new view of the Andromeda galaxy and a dense galaxy cluster.

Since launching in December, WISE has sent back more than 250,000 raw images. NASA processed several of them for the public.

The $320 million project is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.