NEOWISE-R: Single-Exposure Infrared Source Detections for Asteroid Tracking

NEOWISE-R Single Exposure (L1b) Source Table is a NASA mission database containing position and flux information for source detections from individual 7.7-second infrared exposures. The table provides multiple independent measurements of sky positions, including magnitudes, uncertainties, quality flags, observation times, and catalog associations. It was last updated on March 13, 2026.

Use Cases

• Detecting and tracking asteroids and comets based on their motion across multiple independent observations.
• Characterizing asteroid thermal properties and albedo based on 3.4 and 4.6 μm infrared flux measurements.
• Performing astrometric analysis based on position data and associated uncertainties.
• Cross-referencing celestial objects with the AllWISE and 2MASS catalogs based on the provided associations.

Strengths

• Data originates from the NASA NEOWISE space-based survey mission, an authoritative source for planetary science.
• Provides multiple independent measurements per object due to repeated sky scanning.
• Includes photometric data in two infrared bands (3.4 and 4.6 μm), enabling thermal emission analysis.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale ML tasks.
• Data is provided in a BIN file format, which may require specialized tools for access.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Systematic sky imaging at infrared wavelengths by the NEOWISE space telescope.

Time Range

Coverage corresponds to the NEOWISE Reactivation Mission operational period (from 2014 onward).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 18:58:41.737842; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Full celestial sky coverage.