Herschel Space Observatory

It is revealing new information about the earliest most distant stars and galaxies as well as those closer to home in space and time.

Herschel space observatory. Welcome to the uk herschel space observatory website. The herschel space observatory is a space based telescope that is studying the universe by the light of the far infrared and submillimeter portions of the spectrum. It gave scientists their most complete look so far at the large portion of the universe that radiates in far infrared and submillimeter wavelengths. Herschel the european space agency s herschel space observatory formerly called far infrared and sub millimetre telescope or first flew the largest single mirror ever built for a space telescope.

The herschel space observatory was launched on may 14 2009 and operated for nearly four years. If you are looking for something in particular and can t find it please contact dr chris north. The herschel space observatory had the largest telescope ever flown in space with a main mirror 3 5 m across more than four times larger than any previous infrared space telescope and almost one and a half times larger than that of the hubble space telescope. Participation studied the light of the universe in the far infrared and submillimeter portions of the spectrum.

It revealed new information about the earliest most distant stars and galaxies as well as those closer to home in space and time. The herschel space observatory s mission was designed to unveil a face of the early universe that was previously hidden. At 3 5 metres in diameter the mirror collected long wavelength radiation from some of the coldest and most distant objects in the universe. It was active from 2009 to 2013 and was the largest infrared telescope ever launched carrying a 3 5 metre 11 5 ft mirror and instruments sensitive to the far infrared and submillimetre wavebands 55 672 µm.

It carried the largest and most powerful infrared telescope ever flown in space and three sensitive scientific instruments which had to be operated at temperatures close to absolute zero. This is a legacy site and some information that you may have expected to find may not be available. A space based telescope designed to study some of the coldest and darkest regions of the universe using infrared light herschel was responsible for numerous findings about dark matter galaxies and other cosmic mysteries. The herschel space observatory was a space based telescope that studied the universe by the light of the far infrared and submillimeter portions of the spectrum.

The herschel space observatory was a space observatory built and operated by the european space agency esa. It also provided a unique look at our own solar system. The telescope was decommissioned in april 2013 when it ran out of liquid coolant as expected.