NEOWISE Revealing Changes in the Universe

Recent time-lapse videos originating from NASA's NEOWISE mission provide astronomers with the unique opportunity to observe celestial objects, such as stars and black holes, as they undergo movement and transformations across time. These videos unveil formerly concealed brown dwarfs, a black hole consuming matter, a dying star, a region where new stars are forming, and a star that's becoming brighter. These captivating visuals merge over a decade's worth of NEOWISE observations with 18 comprehensive all-sky images. This accumulation enables in-depth, long-term analysis, contributing to a deeper comprehension of the cosmos.

The sequence of events in the videos is as follows:

0:44 – Animation of NEOWISE's all-sky scan
1:03 – A black hole feeding on matter
1:14 – A pulsating star near the end of its life cycle
1:21 – Protostars within a star-forming region
1:34 – Movement of a brown dwarf across the sky
2:00 – Unexplained phenomenon of a star suddenly brightening
NEOWISE's primary objective involves using a space telescope to detect asteroids and comets, including those that might pose a threat to Earth. Originally launched in December 2009 as the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), this space telescope was initially designed for infrared sky surveys, identifying asteroids, stars, and even some of the faintest galaxies in space. WISE accomplished its mission successfully until February 2011. In December 2013, observations recommenced after the telescope was reactivated, repurposed for the NEOWISE initiative. This project's aim is to study near-Earth objects (NEOs), as well as more distant asteroids and comets, using the same instrument.