Planetary Science

NEOWISE

109 tracked publications and 4,379 citations from 2011–2026. Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. Launched 2009. Life-cycle cost: $484M in 2025 dollars. Active Mission Window January 1, 2014 to January 1, 2024: 71 publications, 1.8 top-10% credit.

Survey Observatory · h-index 33 · 9 papers with 100+ citations · prime mission ended 2021

Lifetime

Scope Papers published from the first full month after science operations begin through 2 years after the mission ends. Citations are counted through the third calendar year after each paper appears. Methods Papers published from the first full month after science operations begin through 2 years after the prime mission ends. Citations are counted through the third calendar year after each paper appears. Methods Every tracked publication to date, with every citation to date. Methods

Key measures

Active Mission Window · papers January 1, 2014 to January 1, 2024
Tracked publicationsTracked publications: peer-reviewed research papers we found for the mission. The list may not be complete. Methods71
CitationsCitations received by the tracked publications in the selected scope. The two windowed scopes count each paper’s citations only within its citation window. Methods785
Mean citations per publicationMean citations: total citations divided by tracked publications in the selected scope. One blockbuster paper can lift it. Methods11
Median citations per publicationMedian citations: the middle paper’s citation count in the selected scope; half the papers have more, half fewer. A single blockbuster sways it less than the mean. Methods9
Uncited publicationsUncited publications: papers with no citations in the selected scope. Methods4 (5.6%)
Top-10% creditTop 10%: among the 10% most-cited papers from this division’s missions, ranked against papers published around the same time. A paper naming several missions is split evenly among the missions in this division that claim it, so counts can be fractional. Methods1.8 · 0.17% of division
Top-1% creditTop 1%: among the 1% most-cited papers from this division’s missions within the selected window. Not adjusted for publication year. A paper naming several missions is split evenly among the missions in this division that claim it, so counts can be fractional. Methods0 · 0% of division
Lifetime indices · every tracked publication to date, in any scope
h-indexh-index: the largest h such that h papers have at least h citations each. It only grows with time, so older missions score higher. Methods33
g-indexg-index: the largest g for which the g most-cited papers together hold at least g² citations. Like the h-index, but it lets the most-cited papers count for more. Methods64
m-index, as of October 4, 2026m-index: a mission’s h-index divided by the years since its first peer-reviewed paper. It falls every 1 January even when nothing else changes, so it belongs to the date shown; it also discounts the long operating life that larger missions paid for. Methods2.1
toritori (total research impact, from ADS): for every paper citing one of the mission’s papers, 1 divided by the citing paper’s reference count times the cited paper’s author count, summed, with self-citations removed. It favors citations from papers with short reference lists and from outside the mission’s own authors. Computed over the tracked citation graph, which can be slightly incomplete. Methods13
riqriq (research impact quotient): 1,000 times the square root of tori, divided by the years since the mission’s first paper. A rate, not a total, so it does not keep growing with age the way the h-index and tori do. Methods225

Tracked publications

  1. Initial Performance of the NEOWISE Reactivation Mission

    Mainzer, A., 2014, ApJ

    766 citations

  2. Main Belt Asteroids with WISE/NEOWISE. I. Preliminary Albedos and Diameters

    Masiero, Joseph R., 2011, ApJ

    398 citations

  3. NEOWISE Observations of Near-Earth Objects: Preliminary Results

    Mainzer, A., 2011, ApJ

    373 citations

  4. NEOWISE Studies of Spectrophotometrically Classified Asteroids: Preliminary Results

    Mainzer, A., 2011, ApJ

    135 citations

  5. WISE/NEOWISE Observations of the Jovian Trojans: Preliminary Results

    Grav, T., 2011, ApJ

    117 citations

  6. Main-belt Asteroids with WISE/NEOWISE: Near-infrared Albedos

    Masiero, Joseph R., 2014, ApJ

    113 citations

  7. Asteroid Family Identification Using the Hierarchical Clustering Method and WISE/NEOWISE Physical Properties

    Masiero, Joseph R., 2013, ApJ

    110 citations

  8. Centaurs and Scattered Disk Objects in the Thermal Infrared: Analysis of WISE/NEOWISE Observations

    Bauer, James M., 2013, ApJ

    108 citations

  9. WISE/NEOWISE Observations of the Jovian Trojan Population: Taxonomy

    Grav, T., 2012, ApJ

    102 citations

  10. Preliminary Analysis of WISE/NEOWISE 3-Band Cryogenic and Post-cryogenic Observations of Main Belt Asteroids

    Masiero, Joseph R., 2012, ApJ

    96 citations

  11. Thermal Model Calibration for Minor Planets Observed with Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer/NEOWISE

    Mainzer, A., 2011, ApJ

    83 citations

  12. NEOWISE Reactivation Mission Year One: Preliminary Asteroid Diameters and Albedos

    Nugent, C. R., 2015, ApJ

    83 citations

  13. NEOWISE Reactivation Mission Year Two: Asteroid Diameters and Albedos

    Nugent, C. R., 2016, AJ

    80 citations

  14. WISE/NEOWISE Observations of the Hilda Population: Preliminary Results

    Grav, T., 2012, ApJ

    79 citations

  15. The Population of Tiny Near-Earth Objects Observed by NEOWISE

    Mainzer, A., 2014, ApJ

    68 citations

  16. The NEOWISE-Discovered Comet Population and the CO + CO₂ Production Rates

    Bauer, James M., 2015, ApJ

    66 citations

  17. Debiasing the NEOWISE Cryogenic Mission Comet Populations

    Bauer, James M., 2017, AJ

    61 citations

  18. Physical Parameters of Asteroids Estimated from the WISE 3-Band Data and NEOWISE Post-Cryogenic Survey

    Mainzer, A., 2012, ApJ

    56 citations

  19. The population of near-earth asteroids revisited and updated

    Harris, Alan W., 2021, Icar

    56 citations

  20. Characterizing Subpopulations within the near-Earth Objects with NEOWISE: Preliminary Results

    Mainzer, A., 2012, ApJ

    53 citations

How we found these papers

We searched NASA’s Astrophysics Data System (ADS) for peer-reviewed articles naming NEOWISE in the title, abstract or keywords; standard filters drop articles that are not peer-reviewed and magazine pieces. SciX is ADS’s current interface.

((((((abs:NEOWISE AND (abs:infrared OR abs:survey OR abs:telescope OR abs:mission OR abs:photometry OR abs:asteroid OR abs:data OR abs:variability OR abs:WISE)) AND NOT (=abs:"C 2020 F3 NEOWISE" OR =abs:"comet NEOWISE" OR =abs:"C 2014 N3 NEOWISE")) OR ((abs:NEOWISE AND (abs:infrared OR abs:survey OR abs:telescope OR abs:mission OR abs:photometry OR abs:asteroid OR abs:data OR abs:variability OR abs:WISE)) AND (=abs:"NEOWISE data" OR =abs:"NEOWISE observations" OR =abs:"NEOWISE mission" OR =abs:"NEOWISE survey" OR =abs:"NEOWISE images" OR =abs:"NEOWISE space telescope" OR =abs:"NEOWISE program" OR =abs:"Near Earth Object program of the Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer"))) AND (abs:asteroid OR abs:comet OR =abs:NEOs OR =abs:"near-Earth objects" OR =abs:"minor planet" OR =abs:"minor planets" OR =abs:"small body" OR =abs:"small bodies" OR abs:trojan OR =abs:"planetary defense" OR =abs:"Kuiper belt" OR =abs:"trans-Neptunian" OR abs:Neptune OR abs:regolith OR =abs:"Planet Nine") AND NOT (abs:AGN OR abs:quasar OR abs:YSO OR abs:protostar OR abs:"tidal disruption event" OR abs:supernova OR abs:"brown dwarf" OR abs:"white dwarf" OR abs:maser OR abs:"star-forming" OR abs:"black hole")) AND collection:astronomy)) AND property:refereed AND doctype:article AND pubdate:[2014-01 TO 2040-01] AND NOT bibstem:("A&R" OR "AIASJ" OR "AeAm" OR "AirSp" OR "AsNow" OR "AsUAI" OR "AvWST" OR "C&E" OR "C&T" OR "CAPJ" OR "E&S" OR "ENews" OR "IrAJ" OR "JCos" OR "JRASC" OR "LAstr" OR "MNSSA" OR "Met" OR "NewSc" OR "Orion" OR "PhT" OR "PhTea" OR "PhuZ" OR "PhyOJ" OR "PhyW" OR "PlR" OR "SciAm" OR "SpFl" OR "ZemVs")

Open in SciX

Added after review (23)

  1. Main Belt Asteroids with WISE/NEOWISE. I. Preliminary Albedos and Diameters Early NEOWISE results: preliminary diameters and albedos of main-belt asteroids. Decision 🤖
  2. NEOWISE Observations of Near-Earth Objects: Preliminary Results Early NEOWISE results: preliminary near-Earth object population estimates. Decision 🤖
  3. NEOWISE Studies of Spectrophotometrically Classified Asteroids: Preliminary Results Early NEOWISE results: albedos of spectrophotometrically classified asteroids. Decision 🤖
  4. WISE/NEOWISE Observations of the Jovian Trojans: Preliminary Results Early NEOWISE results: albedos and sizes of Jupiter Trojan asteroids. Decision 🤖
  5. Asteroid Family Identification Using the Hierarchical Clustering Method and WISE/NEOWISE Physical Properties Asteroid family identification using early NEOWISE albedos. Decision 🤖
  6. Centaurs and Scattered Disk Objects in the Thermal Infrared: Analysis of WISE/NEOWISE Observations Early NEOWISE thermal observations of Centaurs and scattered disk objects. Decision 🤖
  7. WISE/NEOWISE Observations of the Jovian Trojan Population: Taxonomy Taxonomy of Jupiter Trojans from early NEOWISE infrared albedos. Decision 🤖
  8. Preliminary Analysis of WISE/NEOWISE 3-Band Cryogenic and Post-cryogenic Observations of Main Belt Asteroids Early NEOWISE diameters and albedos from the cryogenic and post-cryogenic surveys. Decision 🤖
  9. Thermal Model Calibration for Minor Planets Observed with Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer/NEOWISE Thermal model calibration for asteroids using early NEOWISE observations. Decision 🤖
  10. WISE/NEOWISE Observations of the Hilda Population: Preliminary Results Early NEOWISE results: albedos and taxonomy of Hilda asteroids. Decision 🤖
  11. Physical Parameters of Asteroids Estimated from the WISE 3-Band Data and NEOWISE Post-Cryogenic Survey Early NEOWISE physical parameters of near-Earth objects from the post-cryogenic survey. Decision 🤖
  12. Characterizing Subpopulations within the near-Earth Objects with NEOWISE: Preliminary Results Early NEOWISE results: near-Earth object subpopulations and hazardous asteroid numbers. Decision 🤖
  13. Revising the Age for the Baptistina Asteroid Family Using WISE/NEOWISE Data Baptistina asteroid family age revised with early NEOWISE data. Decision 🤖
  14. NEOWISE Studies of Asteroids with Sloan Photometry: Preliminary Results Early NEOWISE albedos of asteroids with Sloan photometry. Decision 🤖
  15. WISE/NEOWISE Observations of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 Early NEOWISE observations of comet 103P/Hartley 2. Decision 🤖
  16. The strength and detectability of the YORP effect in near-Earth asteroids: a statistical approach YORP effect study of near-Earth asteroids using early NEOWISE diameters. Decision 🤖
  17. Thermal Model Calibration for Minor Planets Observed with WISE/NEOWISE: Comparison with Infrared Astronomical Satellite Early NEOWISE minor-planet diameters compared with IRAS results. Decision 🤖
  18. WISE/NEOWISE Observations of Active Bodies in the Main Belt Early NEOWISE observations of active main-belt objects. Decision 🤖
  19. WISE/NEOWISE Preliminary Analysis and Highlights of the 67p/Churyumov-Gerasimenko near Nucleus Environs Early NEOWISE observations of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Decision 🤖
  20. An analysis of the Hygiea asteroid family orbital region Hygiea asteroid family study using early NEOWISE albedos. Decision 🤖
  21. A Revised Asteroid Polarization-Albedo Relationship Using WISE/NEOWISE Data Asteroid polarization-albedo relation revised with early NEOWISE albedos. Decision 🤖
  22. The Yarkovsky Drift's Influence on NEAs: Trends and Predictions with NEOWISE Measurements Yarkovsky drift predictions for near-Earth asteroids from early NEOWISE measurements. Decision 🤖
  23. High-inclination Atens are Indeed Rare Orbital models of Aten asteroids tested against early NEOWISE detections. Decision 🤖