Mapping the skies in infrared
Now the archive is being opened to the public. So far, about 57% of the data sent back can be viewed online. The remainder of the data will come online in the spring of 2012. You can find instructions on how to access the archive here.
In this remarkable image released on Thursday, you can make out Betelgeuse, the blue star in the lower left. At the center of the image, you can see the star Lambda Orionis (the red one) hovering in a cloud that measures some 130 light years in diameter. (It also is one of the largest star-forming regions WISE has seen.) According to Greek mythology, Orion was a hunter whose vanity so angered the goddess Artemis that he was banished to the sky.