WISE

This animation shows a schematic of WISE’s orbit. WISE will be placed in an orbit that takes it over the north and south poles of Earth and several hundred miles above the dividing line between day and night on Earth—called the terminator. As it circles Earth, WISE will be oriented so as to keep its solar panels always facing the Sun. Also, the satellite will rotate once per orbit so that the telescope will always be pointed away from Earth, straight up into the sky. Since the telescope is always facing the sky at 90° to the Sun, it can make observations of the sky throughout its orbit.