The 'first-light' photo from the Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) which currently orbits Earth was released today. The photo was taken shortly after the protective cover was ejected on December 29. The view in the image is of the region around the Carina constellation and includes several thousand stars.
WISE will be snapping over 1.5 million pictures over its 9 month run focusing on Near Earth Objects (asteroids), brown dwarfs, and luminous IR galaxies. The program is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. Here is a link to the program webpage at NASA. Also, Amy Mainzer is one of the project scientist who regularly updates her webpage with information about WISE. Here is a quote from her concerning this photo:
If an ordinary picture is worth a thousand words, this one is worth at least a thousand stars!
I could not agree more!