Latest Herschel Space Observatory Stories

Planck, ESA's microwave observatory that will study the relic radiation of the Big Bang, was shipped from Liège, Belgium, to Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on 18 February. The spacecraft is scheduled to be launched in tandem with ESA's Herschel infrared observatory on 16 April. The spacecraft took off from Liège airport on board an Antonov cargo plane early in the morning on 18 February and arrived at its destination that evening. This follows the earlier shipment of...

The European Space Agency (ESA) has started a new program to track space debris and establish standards to avoid future collisions, an official said on Monday.Dubbed Space Situational Awareness, the $64 million program was launched in January, and seeks to provide scientists on the ground with additional information about the estimated 13,000 satellites and other man made structures now orbiting the Earth. Two satellites collided 500 miles over Siberia on February 10, generating space debris...

The European Space Agency says it is preparing to move its Herschel and Planck spacecraft to Europe's spaceport in Kouron, French Guiana, within two weeks. Herschel and Planck are scheduled to be launched into space in a dual launch configuration April 16. Herschel will study the formation of stars and galaxies and Planck is designed to investigate the relic radiation from the Big Bang, officials said. Herschel underwent testing at the ESA's Space Research and Technology Center in Noordwijk,...

The European Space Agency is in the final stages of preparing to launch its Herschel spacecraft after more than 20 years of development. Herschel will soon become the largest telescope mirror in space, overshadowing the Hubble space telescope. "The mirror is an enormous piece of hardware," Thomas Passvogel, ESA's program manager on the Herschel space observatory, told BBC News. "It's a ceramic mirror; it's the biggest piece ever made from silicon carbide. It's very hard but...

Nanotechnologist Chris Lodewijk has succeeded in significantly increasing the sensitivity of the new supertelescopes in Chile. He will receive his PhD on this topic at Delft University of Technology on Monday 2 February.In Chile's Atacama desert, technicians and astronomers from around the world are currently working on the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA). This consists of 66 advanced telescopes which will be placed at an altitude of 5,000 metres and together will provide a more precise...

On Thursday, 8 January 2009, the Herschel flight model spacecraft was lifted out of the Large Space Simulator (LSS) at ESTEC, where it has successfully completed the last series of environmental tests.For Herschel the last weeks before Christmas 2008, were devoted to the final series of thermal balance and thermal vacuum (TBTV) tests under simulated in-flight conditions. These involved both the spacecraft and the payload and were successfully completed by 20 December.During the TBTV tests the...

The European Space Agency (ESA) Director General met with reporters on Wednesday to outline a number of major events planned for 2009.Jean-Jacques Dordain began the annual press briefing at ESA headquarters by reviewing the ESA's achievements in 2008, such as the docking of the Columbus science lab with the International Space Station"Last year was really an outstanding vintage," he told reporters. "But there'll be no breathing space going forward."Dordain continued by...

The mirror of the Herschel telescope has now been assembled with the payload and service module, completing the spacecraft structure - an important milestone in the days following through to launch.The sunshield and solar arrays were assembled with the cryostat and service module on 11 April. The telescope was assembled on 16 April. The spacecraft will be subjected to several mechanical tests over the next few weeks.  The telescope mirror of the Herschel infrared observatory is a 3.5-m...

University of Nottingham astronomers will be studying icy cosmic dust millions of light years away "” using the biggest space telescope ever built.Experts in the School of Physics and Astronomy will be using the Herschel Space Observatory, the most powerful telescope ever launched into space, as part of a giant survey to find out more about some of the coldest objects in the Universe.The Herschel Space Observatory, launched by the European Space Agency this Summer, promises to take our...

Two new sets of observations from the AKARI Infrared Space Telescope, JAXA mission with ESA participation, show how the spaceborne telescope has investigated galaxies both near and far.In the first set, Toyoaki Suzuki, University of Tokyo, observed M101, a spiral galaxy 170 thousand light years in diameter. AKARI's new observations reveal differing populations of stars spread across its spiral arms.AKARI observed the galaxy at four infrared wavelengths (65, 90, 140, and 160 micrometres) using...