Astronomers use infrared data to find faint, cool objects that can be difficult to see in visible light—but a source in an infrared survey is not automatically a planet. In archival WISE/NEOWISE searches, researchers compare images taken at different times to identify possible movers, then check whether the signal is real and determine what kind of object it is. That is different from directly imaging an exoplanet beside its host star, where the challenge is separating the planet’s own light from the star’s glare.
Two different ways to search for planets with infrared light
“Searching for planets in infrared images” can mean either directly resolving a planet near a star or looking through wide-field survey archives for faint or moving objects. Both use infrared observations, but they detect different signals and face different obstacles.
| Approach | What is detected | Main challenge | Typical targets | How researchers follow up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct imaging | A planet’s own light, spatially separated from its host star. | The star is much brighter and can overwhelm the planet’s signal; coronagraphs block much of the glare. | Primarily young, hot giant planets that still glow from their formation, as in NASA’s JWST example of HIP 65426 b. | Characterize the resolved source and establish its relationship to the host star. NASA: Direct imaging of exoplanets |
| Wide-field survey archive search | Infrared brightness and possible motion of a source across images taken at different times. | Artifacts, blended sources, and uncertainty about whether a moving object is a brown dwarf, solar-system body, or something else. | Faint nearby objects, including cold brown dwarfs, as well as solar-system objects. | Review the images and obtain additional observations, such as repeat positions or spectra, suited to the candidate. NASA: WISE mission NASA: How do we find exoplanets? |
These routes overlap in their use of infrared light, but a moving point found in a survey is not the same thing as a planet directly imaged in orbit around a star.
Why infrared surveys reveal faint, cool objects
Cool objects can emit a greater share of their detectable light in infrared wavelengths than in visible light. NASA notes that low-temperature brown dwarfs may be faint in visible light while still emitting infrared radiation. That makes infrared surveys useful for locating objects that optical searches might miss, while also making classification important: an infrared-bright source may be a brown dwarf rather than a planet.
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WISE mapped the entire sky in four wavelength bands: 3.4, 4.6, 12, and 22 micrometers. Its archive includes observations from the original WISE mission and later NEOWISE observations. The NASA Open Data Portal describes the unWISE Catalog as containing positions and fluxes for roughly two billion WISE objects. Its images combine publicly available 3–5 micrometer observations, including NEOWISE-Reactivation data, and have five times the total exposure time of AllWISE. These are catalog and archive scale figures—not counts of planets or confirmed candidates. NASA: WISE mission NASA Open Data Portal: unWISE Catalog
For scale, NASA reported in 2024 that NEOWISE’s all-sky maps included 1.45 million infrared measurements of more than 44,000 solar-system objects. Those figures describe measurements and solar-system targets, not exoplanets. NASA: NEOWISE solar-system measurements
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How astronomers search WISE and NEOWISE images
A survey search is a process of narrowing down possible sources, not a one-test planet detector. Repeated coverage and cataloged positions and brightnesses help researchers compare what appears in the sky over time. Coadded products such as unWISE combine observations to improve depth, while the separate epochs remain useful for looking for change or motion.
- Choose the data products and epochs. Check which wavelength range and observation dates a catalog or image product covers before interpreting a source. A coadd can help reveal faint objects, while images from separate epochs let researchers test whether a source has moved.
- Flag plausible sources. For a nearby moving object, researchers compare images separated in time and look for a consistent shift against background stars and galaxies. NASA’s Backyard Worlds project uses short movies made from WISE imagery; volunteers flag possible movers for professional follow-up. NASA: Backyard Worlds: Planet 9
- Check that the signal is not an artifact or blend. A dot or apparent brightness change may be caused by instrumental effects, crowded sources, or imperfect image modeling. NASA describes brightness spikes around star images and blurry blobs caused by light scattered within WISE instruments. Reviewing image sequences can help identify suspicious patterns, but a visual flag remains a candidate, not a confirmed object. NASA: Backyard Worlds: Planet 9
- Follow up with observations suited to the question. Repeat observations can test a candidate’s position and motion; distance measurements, spectra, or other observations can help characterize it. For direct imaging, astronomers must characterize the resolved source and its connection to the host star rather than treating infrared brightness alone as proof of a planet. NASA explains that candidates need additional observations because false positives occur. NASA: How do we find exoplanets?
- Describe the result conservatively. A source found through a WISE motion search might be a brown dwarf or solar-system object. Researchers should not call an isolated object an exoplanet orbiting a star unless observations support that relationship.
How astronomers distinguish a planet from a brown dwarf
Infrared brightness or motion by itself does not settle an object’s classification. A moving source could be a nearby brown dwarf, a solar-system body, or an artifact; even a real, cold object with planet-like properties is not necessarily an exoplanet orbiting a star. Astronomers need follow-up evidence appropriate to the proposed object and its relationship to a host star. The available sources do not establish a single infrared color or movement test that reliably separates all planets from brown dwarfs.
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WISE 0855−0714 illustrates why the distinction matters. Discovered in WISE data, it prompted a historical question among some researchers about whether it might be a rogue exoplanet. Subsequent brown-dwarf discoveries provided population context; the episode is not evidence that WISE 0855−0714 has been settled as an exoplanet. NASA astrophysicist Marc Kuchner, principal investigator of Backyard Worlds, described the advantage of infrared searches: “Because there’s so little sunlight, even large objects in that region barely shine in visible light. But by looking in the infrared, WISE may have imaged objects we otherwise would have missed.” NASA: WISE finds coldest brown dwarf
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What WISE data can—and cannot—tell us now
WISE launched in 2009 and completed its original full-sky survey before the spacecraft was later reactivated as NEOWISE. NASA says the NEOWISE science survey ended on July 31, 2024, and the spacecraft was decommissioned on August 8, 2024. WISE/NEOWISE is therefore an archival source for this kind of work, not a currently operating survey telescope; its stored observations remain available for analysis. NASA: WISE mission NASA: NASA shuts down its NEOWISE mission
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The archive supports searches for faint and moving infrared sources, but it does not make every source a planet candidate. Results depend on checking the data product and epochs, rejecting instrumental or blending effects, and obtaining follow-up observations that support the proposed classification.
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