Latest Infrared telescopes Stories

WASHINGTON, April 29, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Herschel observatory, a European space telescope for which NASA helped build instruments and process data, has stopped making observations after running out of liquid coolant as expected. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The European Space Agency (ESA) mission, launched almost four years ago, revealed the universe's "coolest" secrets by observing the frigid side of planet, star and galaxy...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The European Space Agency's (ESA) Herschel observatory has officially run out of liquid coolant, ending its mission. The space observatory launched nearly four years ago with a goal to help reveal some of the cooler sides of the universe, including planet, star and galaxy formation. "Herschel gave us the opportunity to peer into the dark and cold regions of the universe that are invisible to other telescopes," said John Grunsfel,...

PASADENA, Calif., April 15, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An infrared sensor that could improve NASA's future detecting and tracking of asteroids and comets has passed a critical design test. (Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The test assessed performance of the Near Earth Object Camera (NEOCam) in an environment that mimicked the temperatures and pressures of deep space. NEOCam is the cornerstone instrument for a proposed new space-based...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The European Space Agency's (ESA) Herschel space observatory has snapped images of a dust belt orbiting a subgiant star that hosts a planetary system. The space observatory's sensitive far-infrared detection helped astronomers resolve bright emission around Kappa Coronae Borealis, indicating the presence of a dusty debris disc. The star is a little heavier than our own Sun at 1.5 solar masses, is around 2.5 billion years old, and sits...

ESA In this new view of a vast star-forming cloud called W3, ESA’s Herschel space observatory tells the story of how massive stars are born. W3 is a giant molecular cloud containing an enormous stellar nursery, some 6200 light-years away in the Perseus Arm, one of our Milky Way Galaxy’s main spiral arms. Spanning almost 200 light-years, W3 is one of the largest star-formation complexes in the outer Milky Way, hosting the formation of both low- and high-mass stars. The distinction...

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Some of the youngest stars ever seen have recently been found, thanks to the European Space Agency's (ESA) Herschel Space Observatory. Herschel's observations were used in conjunction with contributing observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) telescope in Chile -- a collaboration involving the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIFR) in Germany, the Onsala Space Observatory...

WASHINGTON, March 19, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Astronomers have found some of the youngest stars ever seen thanks to the Herschel space observatory, a European Space Agency mission with important NASA contributions. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) telescope in Chile, a collaboration involving the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany, the...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The European Space Agency said Tuesday that its Herschel Space Observatory is beginning to wrap up its mission. Famous for its ability to view the sky in the entire wavelength range from far-infrared to submillimeter, the space observatory is beginning to run out of its supply of liquid helium coolant. ESA says Herschel is running on its last fumes and will be running empty in the coming weeks. Herschel first launched on May 14, 2009...

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has captured an infrared image of the glowing waves given off by a giant star that was sent hurtling through space after its companion star exploded. Zeta Ophiuchi, the star which is currently speeding through the universe and leaving what is known as a bow shock in its wake, is 20 times more massive and 80,000 times brighter than our sun, according to the US space agency. Scientists believe that...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Millions of black holes have been discovered, as well as extreme galaxies called hot DOGs using NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission. The telescope has helped reveal millions of dusty black hole candidates throughout the universe, and about 1,000 dustier objects that are thought to be the brightest galaxies ever found called dust-obscured galaxies, or hot DOGs. "WISE has exposed a menagerie of hidden objects,"...