Berkeley 59 Imaged by WISE

[Christopher K.]

The Berkeley 59 star cluster and surrounding nebulosity is in a new incredible picture from WISE. Some of the nebulosity is hydrocarbons.

Berkeley 59 is ~3300 light-years away in Cepheus. Supernova remnant NGC 7822 is associated with this region.

The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (which includes a 40-centimeter telescope) is mapping the entire sky in infrared, from 500 kilometers above the Earth and with a 47-arcminute field of view. It will take approximately 1.5 million pictures during its six-month mission. It was launched 14 December from Vandenburg aboard a Delta II 7925. It's 2.85 meters tall, 2 meters wide, 1.73 meters deep and weighs 661 kilograms. The Space Dynamics Laboratory in North Logan, Utah designed and tested it. The PI is Edward Wright of UCLA.

High-res image:
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/433840main_wise20100315-full.jpg

The color-coding for the image is...
blue, 3.4 microns
cyan, 4.6 microns
green, 12 microns
red, 22 microns

Space Dynamics Laboratory:
http://www.spacedynamics.org/index-flash.adp