Summary
The Wide Field Infrared Explorer (WIRE) is a mission of NASA's Small Explorer (SMEX) and Origins Projects.
WIRE is an infrared telescope designed to pick starburst galaxies out of the galaxy "crowd" and help to determine starburst evolutionary history during the past few billion years. These galaxies are tough to pick out of the crowd using regular visible-light telescopes, but they become obvious to infrared telescopes.
Hubble Deep-Field
WIRE will also be able to determine whether starburst galaxies represent the main source of all stars that we see today, including those in our own Milky Way Galaxy.
The Milky Way Galaxy
A galaxy is a component of the universe made up of gas and a large number of stars held together by gravity. The two most common types of galaxies are spiral and elliptical.
Spiral Galaxy M 83
Most spiral galaxies are actively forming new stars in the coldest, densest, and dustiest clouds of the outer disk.
Elliptical Galaxy M 87
Most elliptical galaxies contain old stars, and they have much less dust and gas than the spirals. Most have not formed stars for billions of years.
A starburst galaxy is a galaxy that is undergoing a burst of star-formation. Sometimes starburst galaxies appear as gas and dust-rich spiral galaxies although they usually appear quite distorted and irregular.
Infrared Image of Starburst Galaxy M 82
Some starburst galaxies emit more than 99% of their light in the infrared. If more than 1/3 of the energy budget of our Universe is due to visible starlight from medium and old age stars, then starburst galaxies represent the main source of new stars in our universe.
Quasar 3C279
Many astronomers believe that super-massive black holes seen in quasars got their start from very luminous stars formed in giant starbursts. If this is the case, WIRE may trace the formation of quasars as well.
Keep going to learn about the equipment WIRE will use to take these important infrared pictures of starburst galaxies.
Last Updated: 12/2/98