The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) was a space-based observatory that performed a survey of the entire sky at infrared wavelengths. Categories: Stub | Astronomical observatories ... There are several uses of the word survey. ... For other uses, see Sky (disambiguation). ... Image of a small dog taken in mid-infrared (thermal) light (false color) Infrared (IR) radiation is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength longer than visible light, but shorter than microwave radiation. ... The wavelength is the distance between repeating units of a wave pattern. ...

Launched in January 25, 1983, its mission lasted ten months. It was a joint project of the United States (NASA), the Netherlands (NIVR), and the United Kingdom (SERC). The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (established 1958) is the government agency responsible for the United States of Americas space program and long-term general aerospace research. ... The Netherlands Agency for Aerospace Programmes (Nederlands Instituut voor Vliegtuigontwikkeling en Ruimtevaart, NIVR) is the official space agency of the Netherlands. ... The Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) used to be the UK agency in charge of publicly funded scientific and engineering research actvities including astronomy, biotechnology and biological sciences, space research and particle physics. ... Image of a small dog taken in mid-infrared (thermal) light (false color) Infrared (IR) radiation is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength longer than visible light, but shorter than microwave radiation. ... (Redirected from 25 January) January 25 is the 25th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... (Redirected from 21 November) November 21 is the 325th day of the year (326th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Superfluidity is a phase of matter characterised by the complete absence of viscosity. ... HE, He, or he may stand for: Hebrew language (ISO 639 alpha-2, he) Helium (He), symbol for the chemical element Hé, a Chinese family name represented by the character 何 He, an English pronoun. ... January 25 is the 25th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (established 1958) is the government agency responsible for the United States of Americas space program and long-term general aerospace research. ... The Netherlands Agency for Aerospace Programmes (Nederlands Instituut voor Vliegtuigontwikkeling en Ruimtevaart, NIVR) is the official space agency of the Netherlands. ... The Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) used to be the UK agency in charge of publicly funded scientific and engineering research actvities including astronomy, biotechnology and biological sciences, space research and particle physics. ...

IRAS mapped 96% of the sky four times, at 12, 25, 60 and 100 micrometre wavelengths, with resolutions ranging from 0.5' at 12 micrometers to 2' at 100 micrometers. It discovered about 500,000 sources, many of which are still awaiting identification. About 75,000 of those are believed to be starbust galaxies, still enduring their star-formation stage. Many other sources are normal stars with disks of dust around them, possibly the early stage of a planetary system formation. New discoveries included a dust disk around Vega and the first images of the Milky Way Galaxy's core. starburst-a shape or design with emanating rays that resembles the flash of light produced by an exploding star. ... This article is about a celestial body. ... The Pleiades star cluster A star is any massive gaseous body in outer space, just like the Sun. ... A planetary system consists of at least one star and various orbiting objects (such as asteroids, comets, moons, and planets). ... Vega (α Lyr / α Lyrae / Alpha Lyrae) is the brightest star in the constellation Lyra, and the fifth brightest star in the sky. ... the milkey way is the smallest in the local group. ...

IRAS's life, like most of infrared satellites, was limited by its cooling system: to effectively work in the infrared domain, a satellite must be cooled to impressively low temperatures. In IRAS' case, 720 liters of superfluid helium kept the satellite at a temperature of 1.6 kelvins (about −272 °C). The fluid keeps the satellite cool by evaporation. When the fluid totally evaporated, the satellite temperature rose preventing further observations. Superfluidity is a phase of matter characterised by the complete absence of viscosity. ... General Name, Symbol, Number helium, He, 2 Chemical series noble gases Group, Period, Block 18, 1, s Appearance colorless Atomic mass 4. ... The kelvin (symbol: K) is the SI unit of temperature, and is one of the seven SI base units. ... The degree Celsius (°C) is a unit of temperature named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius (1701–1744), who first proposed a similar system in 1742. ... Evaporation is the process whereby atoms or molecules in a liquid state (or solid state if the substance sublimes) gain sufficient energy to enter the gaseous state. ...

Today (2004), the Spitzer Space Telescope is the best infrared telescope, allowing astronomers to follow up many detections first made by IRAS. 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Spitzer Space Telescope (SST) (formerly the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF)) is an infrared space observatory, the fourth and final of NASAs Great Observatories. ...

See also: telescope, space telescope. 50 cm refracting telescope at Nice Observatory. ... A space observatory is any object in outer space which is used for observation of distant planets, galaxies, and other outer space objects. ...

In addition to its main work, IRAS also discovered three asteroids, including notably 3200 Phaethon (an Apollo asteroid and the parent body of the Geminid meteor shower), as well as the periodic comet 126P/IRAS. An asteroid is a small, solid object in our Solar System, orbiting the Sun. ... 3200 Phaethon (sometimes incorrectly spelled Phaeton) is an Apollo and Mercury-, Venus- and Mars_crosser asteroid with unusual properties, and may be an extinct comet. ... The Apollo asteroids are a group of near-Earth asteroids named after 1862 Apollo, the first asteroid of this group to be discovered. ... The Geminids are a meteor shower caused by an object named 3200 Phaethon. ... Categories: Planetology | Astronomy stubs ... Comet Hale-Bopp, showing a white dust tail and blue gas tail (February 1997) A comet is a small astronomical object similar to an asteroid but composed largely of ice. ...

An asteroid is a small, solid object in our Solar System, orbiting the Sun. ... 3200 Phaethon (sometimes incorrectly spelled Phaeton) is an Apollo and Mercury-, Venus- and Mars_crosser asteroid with unusual properties, and may be an extinct comet. ... October 11 is the 284th day of the year (285th in Leap years). ... 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 3728 IRAS is a small main belt asteroid. ... August 23 is the 235th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (236th in leap years), with 130 days remaining. ... 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... August 31 is the 243rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (244th in leap years), with 122 days remaining, as the final day of August. ... 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• NASA IRAS page
• Caltech IRAS page
• Ball Aerospace IRAS page