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The Herschel Space Observatory is a European Space Agency (ESA)
European Space Agency

The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmentalism organisation dedicated to the Space exploration, currently with 18 member states....
 mission originally proposed in 1982 by a consortium of European scientists that included Thijs de Graauw (Netherlands Institute for Space Research
Netherlands Institute for Space Research

The SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research is a Netherlands agency under the Dutch Organisation for Scientific Research responsible for promoting, coordinating and supporting Dutch activities in space research....
), Gisbert Winnewisser (University of Cologne), Michael Rowan-Robinson
Michael Rowan-Robinson

Michael Rowan-Robinson is an astronomer and astrophysicist. He was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge and is Professor of Astrophysics and until May 2007 was Head of the Astrophysics Group at Imperial College London....
 (Imperial College, London), Glenn White
Glenn White

Glenn J. White is currently Professor of Astronomy at the Open University, UK, and Research Group Leader of the Astronomy Group at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory....
 (Open University and The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory is a scientific research laboratory at Chilton, Oxfordshire near Didcot in Oxfordshire, England. It is located on the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus....
), and Malcolm Longair
Malcolm Longair

Malcolm Sim Longair FRS is a British physicist. He was the Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University, England from 1991 to 2008....
 (University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge , located in Cambridge, England, is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation university in the Anglosphere....
). Launch is currently targeted for 16 April 2009 from Kourou, French Guiana
French Guiana

French Guiana is an overseas department of France, located on the northern coast of South America. Like the other Overseas departments, French Guiana is also an overseas region of France, one of the 26 regions of France, and is an integral part of the French Republic....
. The spacecraft was transported to French Guiana onboard an Antonov An-124 aircraft on 10 February 2009.

The satellite, built in the Cannes Mandelieu Space Center
Cannes Mandelieu Space Center

The Cannes Mandelieu Space Center is an industrial plant dedicated to spacecraft manufacturing, located on both towns of Cannes and Mandelieu in France....
 with a joint launch cost of €
Euro

The euro is the official currency of 16 out of 27 European Union member state of the European Union . The states, known collectively as the Eurozone are: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain....
1.1 billion (1.7 billion), will be carried with the Planck satellite into space by an Ariane 5
Ariane 5

Ariane 5 is a European expendable launch system designed to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit or low Earth orbit.It is manufactured under the authority of the European Space Agency and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales , with EADS Astrium Space Transportation as prime contractor, leading a consortium of sub-contracto...
 ECA rocket.






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The Herschel Space Observatory is a European Space Agency (ESA)
European Space Agency

The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmentalism organisation dedicated to the Space exploration, currently with 18 member states....
 mission originally proposed in 1982 by a consortium of European scientists that included Thijs de Graauw (Netherlands Institute for Space Research
Netherlands Institute for Space Research

The SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research is a Netherlands agency under the Dutch Organisation for Scientific Research responsible for promoting, coordinating and supporting Dutch activities in space research....
), Gisbert Winnewisser (University of Cologne), Michael Rowan-Robinson
Michael Rowan-Robinson

Michael Rowan-Robinson is an astronomer and astrophysicist. He was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge and is Professor of Astrophysics and until May 2007 was Head of the Astrophysics Group at Imperial College London....
 (Imperial College, London), Glenn White
Glenn White

Glenn J. White is currently Professor of Astronomy at the Open University, UK, and Research Group Leader of the Astronomy Group at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory....
 (Open University and The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory is a scientific research laboratory at Chilton, Oxfordshire near Didcot in Oxfordshire, England. It is located on the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus....
), and Malcolm Longair
Malcolm Longair

Malcolm Sim Longair FRS is a British physicist. He was the Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University, England from 1991 to 2008....
 (University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge , located in Cambridge, England, is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation university in the Anglosphere....
). Launch is currently targeted for 16 April 2009 from Kourou, French Guiana
French Guiana

French Guiana is an overseas department of France, located on the northern coast of South America. Like the other Overseas departments, French Guiana is also an overseas region of France, one of the 26 regions of France, and is an integral part of the French Republic....
. The spacecraft was transported to French Guiana onboard an Antonov An-124 aircraft on 10 February 2009.

The satellite, built in the Cannes Mandelieu Space Center
Cannes Mandelieu Space Center

The Cannes Mandelieu Space Center is an industrial plant dedicated to spacecraft manufacturing, located on both towns of Cannes and Mandelieu in France....
 with a joint launch cost of €
Euro

The euro is the official currency of 16 out of 27 European Union member state of the European Union . The states, known collectively as the Eurozone are: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain....
1.1 billion (1.7 billion), will be carried with the Planck satellite into space by an Ariane 5
Ariane 5

Ariane 5 is a European expendable launch system designed to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit or low Earth orbit.It is manufactured under the authority of the European Space Agency and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales , with EADS Astrium Space Transportation as prime contractor, leading a consortium of sub-contracto...
 ECA rocket. It is then meant to enter a Lissajous orbit
Lissajous orbit

In orbital mechanics, a Lissajous orbit is a quasi-periodic orbital trajectory that an object can follow around a collinear libration point of a three-body system without requiring any propulsion....
 of 700,000 km diameter around the second Lagrangian point (L2)
Lagrangian point

The Lagrangian points , are the five positions in an orbital configuration where a small object affected only by gravity can theoretically be stationary relative to two larger objects ....
 of the Earth-Sun system
List of objects at Lagrangian points

This is a list of known objects which occupy, have occupied, or are planned to occupy any of the five Lagrangian points of two-body systems in space....
, 1.5 million kilometres distant from the Earth. The mission is named after Sir William Herschel, the discoverer of the infrared
Infrared

Infrared radiation is electromagnetic radiation whose wavelength is longer than that of visible light , but shorter than that of terahertz radiation and microwaves ....
 spectrum.

Instrumentation

The mission, formerly titled the Far Infrared and Sub-millimetre Telescope (FIRST), will be the first space observatory
Space observatory

A space observatory is any instrument in outer space which is used for observation of distant planets, galaxies, and other outer space objects....
 to cover the full far infrared
Infrared

Infrared radiation is electromagnetic radiation whose wavelength is longer than that of visible light , but shorter than that of terahertz radiation and microwaves ....
 and submillimetre
Submillimetre astronomy

Submillimetre astronomy or submillimeter astronomy is the branch of observational astronomy that is conducted at terahertz radiation of the electromagnetic spectrum....
 waveband. At 3.5 meters wide, its telescope will incorporate the largest mirror ever deployed in space. The light will be focused onto three instruments with detectors kept at temperatures below 2 K
Kelvin

The kelvin is a Units of measurement of temperature and is one of the seven SI base units. The Kelvin scale is a Thermodynamic temperature scale where absolute zero, the theoretical absence of all thermal energy, is zero ....
. The instruments will be cooled with liquid helium
Liquid helium

Helium exists in liquid form only at very low temperatures. The boiling point and critical point depend on the isotope of the helium; see the table below for values....
, boiling away in a near vacuum at a temperature of approximately 1.4 K. The 2,000 litres of helium on board the satellite will limit its operational lifetime. The satellite is expected to be operational for at least 3 years.

Herschell will carry aboard three detectors:

PACS (Photodetecting Array Camera and Spectrometer): An imaging camera and low-resolution spectrometer
Spectrometer

A spectrograph is an optical instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, typically used in spectroscopic analysis to identify materials....
 covering 55 to 210 micrometre
Micrometre

A micrometre or micron is one Micro- of a metre, or equivalently one thousandth of a millimetre. It is also commonly known as a micron....
s. The spectrometer will have a resolution between 1000 and 5000 and be able to detect signals as weak as a few times 10-18 W
WATT

WATT is a radio station broadcasting a News radio-Talk radio-Sports radio format. Licensed to Cadillac, Michigan, it first began broadcasting in 1945....
/m². The imaging camera will be able to image simultaneously in two bands (either 60-85/85-130 micrometres and 130-210 micrometres) with a detection limit of a few millijanskys
Jansky

In radio astronomy, the flux unit or jansky is a non-SI unit of electromagnetic radiation flux density equivalent to 10−26 watts per square metre per hertz....
.

SPIRE (Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver): An imaging camera and low-resolution spectrometer covering 194 to 672 micrometres. The spectrometer will have a resolution between 40 and 1000 at wavelengths of 250 micrometres and be able to image point sources with brightnesses around 100 millijanskys (mjy)
Jansky

In radio astronomy, the flux unit or jansky is a non-SI unit of electromagnetic radiation flux density equivalent to 10−26 watts per square metre per hertz....
  and extended sources with brightnesses of around 500 mjy. The imaging camera has three bands
Spectral bands

Spectral bands are part of optical spectra of polyatomic systems, including condensed materials, large molecules etc. Each line corresponding to one level in atom splits in molecules....
, centered at 250, 350 and 500 micrometres, each with 139, 88 and 43 pixels respectively. It should be able to detect point source
Point source

A point source is a localised relatively-small source of something.Point source may also refer to:*Point source , a localised source of pollution...
s with brightness above 2 mjy and between 4 and 9 mjy for extended sources.

HIFI (Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared): A detector with a spectral resolution as high as 107. The spectrometer can be operated within two wavelength bands, from 157 to 212 micrometres and from 240 to 625 micrometres.

Science

Herschel will specialise in collecting light from objects in our Solar System
Solar System

The Solar System consists of the Sun and those Astronomical object bound to it by gravity: the eight planets and five dwarf planets, their 173 known Natural satellite, and billions of Small Solar System body....
 as well as the Milky Way
Milky Way

The Milky Way, sometimes called simply the Galaxy, is the galaxy in which the Solar System is located. It is a barred spiral galaxy that is part of the Local Group of galaxies....
 and even extragalactic
Extragalactic astronomy

Extragalactic astronomy is the branch of astronomy concerned with objects outside our own Milky Way Galaxy. In other words, it is the study of all astronomical objects which are not covered by galactic astronomy....
 objects billions of light-year
Light-year

A light-year or light year is a Units of measurement of length, equal to just under ten orders_of_magnitude_%28numbers%29#1012 kilometres....
s away, such as newborn galaxies
Galaxy

A galaxy is a massive, gravitation system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and cosmic dust, and an important but poorly-understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter....
, and is charged with four primary areas of investigation:

  • Galaxy formation in the early universe and the evolution of galaxies;
  • Star formation
    Star formation

    Star formation is the process by which dense parts of molecular clouds collapse into a ball of Plasma to form a star. As a branch of astronomy star formation includes the study of the interstellar medium and giant molecular clouds as precursors to the star formation process and the study of young stellar objects and planet formation as its i...
     and its interaction with the interstellar medium
    Interstellar medium

    In astronomy, the interstellar medium is the gas and cosmic dust that pervade interstellar space: the matter that exists between the stars within a galaxy....
    ;
  • Chemical composition of atmospheres and surfaces of Solar System bodies, including planet
    Planet

    A planet , as 2006 definition of planet by the International Astronomical Union , is a celestial body orbiting a star or Stellar evolution#Stellar remnants that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared the neighbourhood of planetesimals....
    s, comet
    Comet

    A comet is a Small Solar System body that orbits the Sun and, when close enough to the Sun, exhibits a visible coma or a tail?both primarily from the effects of solar radiation upon the Comet nucleus....
    s and moon
    Natural satellite

    A natural satellite or moon is a celestial body that orbits a planet or smaller body, which is called the primary. Technically, the term natural satellite could refer to a planet orbiting a star, or a dwarf galaxy orbiting a major galaxy, but it is normally synonymous with moon and used to identify non-artificial satellites...
    s;
  • Molecular chemistry across the universe
    Universe

    The universe is defined as everything that physically exists: the entirety of space and time, all forms of matter, energy and momentum, and the physical laws and physical constants that govern them....
    .


See also

  • BLAST
    BLAST (telescope)

    The Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope was a Submillimetre astronomy telescope that hung from a high altitude balloon. It had a 2 meter primary mirror that directs light into bolometer arrays operating at 250, 350, and 500 micrometre....
  • IRAS
    IRAS

    The Infrared Astronomical Satellite was the first-ever space-based observatory to perform a astronomical survey of the entire sky at infrared wavelengths....
  • COBE
    COBE

    The Cosmic Background Explorer , also referred to as Explorer 66, was a satellite dedicated to physical cosmology. Its goals were to investigate the cosmic microwave background radiation of the universe and provide measurements that would help shape our understanding of the cosmos....
  • Infrared Space Observatory
    Infrared Space Observatory

    The Infrared Space Observatory was a space telescope for infrared light designed and operated by the European Space Agency , in cooperation with ISAS and National Aeronautics and Space Administration....
  • Spitzer Space Telescope
    Spitzer Space Telescope

    The Spitzer Space Telescope is an infrared space observatory. It is the fourth and final of NASA's Great Observatories program.The planned nominal mission period was to be 2.5 years with a pre-launch expectation that the mission could extend to five or slightly more years until the onboard liquid helium supply was exhausted....
  • AKARI
    Akari

    * AKARI, in astronomy, is an infrared astronomy satellite developed by JAXA, in cooperation with institutes of Europe and Korea.* AKARI Project, in telecommunications, refers to the AKARI Architecture Design Project of Japan....
  • ALMA
    Atacama Large Millimeter Array

    The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array is an international astronomy project that consists of an astronomical interferometer formed from an array of radio telescopes, located at Llano de Chajnantor Observatory in the Atacama desert in northern Chile....
  • Infrared astronomy
    Infrared astronomy

    Infrared astronomy is the branch of astronomy and astrophysics which deals with objects visible in infrared radiation. Visible radiation ranges from 400 nanometre to 700 nm ....


Further reading


External links