Mapping the infrared universe: The entire sky, as seen by WISE
This is a mosaic of the images covering the entire sky as observed by WISE. The sky can be thought of as a sphere that surrounds us in three dimensions. To make a map of the sky, astronomers project it into two dimensions. The projection used in this image, called Aitoff, takes the three-dimensional sky sphere and slices open one hemisphere, and then flattens the whole thing out into an oval shape. In the mosaic, the Milky Way Galaxy runs horizontally across this map. The Milky Way is a disk; our solar system is located in that disk about two-thirds of the way out from the center. Three of the four wavelengths surveyed by WISE were used to create this image.
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