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HERSCHEL
Exploring the formation of galaxies and stars
Découvrir la formation des galaxies et des étoiles
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Elapsed time since launch on 14 May 2009 at 13:12 (UTC).
Welcome to the Herschel Astronomers' website provided by the Herschel Science Centre (HSC) primarily for the scientific community. For additional ESA and external Herschel related websites see link buttons above and "Useful links".
Herschel was launched on 14 May 2009! It is the fourth `cornerstone' mission in the ESA science programme. With
a 3.5 m Cassegrain telescope it will become the largest space telescope
ever launched. It will perform photometry and spectroscopy in approximately
the 55-672 µm range, bridging the gap between earlier infrared space
missions and groundbased facilities.
Herschel is designed to observe the
`cool universe'; it has the potential of elucidating structure formation
in the universe, resolving the far infrared cosmic background, revealing
cosmologically evolving AGN/starburst symbiosis and galaxy evolution at
the epochs when most stars in the universe were formed, unveiling the
physics and chemistry of the interstellar medium and its molecular clouds,
the wombs of the stars, and unravelling the mechanisms governing the
formation of and evolution of stars and their planetary systems, including
our own solar system putting it into context. In short, Herschel will open
a new window to study how the universe has evolved to become the universe
we see today, and how our star the sun, our planet the earth,
and we ourselves fit in. For abstracts of accepted Herschel
observing programmes see "Key Programmes".
Herschel will be operated as an observatory facility. Commencing about
six months after launch it will offer three years of routine science
observations. It will be available for the worldwide scientific
community, with roughly two thirds of the observing time being
`open time', which will be allocated through a standard competitive
proposal procedure.
Recent and Future Milestones include:
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Herschel views the sky! As part of the commissioning activities Herschel has viewed the sky with spectacular results! See the 'sneak preview', 'first light' and 'first SPIRE/PACS parallel mode' webreleases. Always check the progress on Latest News and the HSC Operations (B)Log.
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Herschel cryocover opened on 14 June 2009! The Herschel cryostat lid (the cryocover) was commanded open on 14 June 2009, precisely one month after the launch. Follow the progress on "Latest News" and the "HSC Operations (B)Log".
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Herschel was launched on 14 May 2009! The Herschel launch campaign was brought to an end by a flawless launch into the sky above Kourou. The Ariane 5 ECA launcher disappeared from sight after just a couple of minutes, and Herschel was later released into its desired transfer trajectory 26 minutes after liftoff. Follow the progress on "Latest News" and the "HSC Operations (B)Log".
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Two Herschel 'hands-on' DP workshops have been conducted by the Herschel Science Centre with partners in ESAC on 24-27 March 2009; see "Latest News".
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The Key Programme (KP) time allocation process has been completed for both guaranteed time (GT) and open time (OT) observations. In addition to the 21 KP GT programmes by coincidence also precisely 21 KP OT programmes have been awarded observing time. The contents of these programmes are described under "Key Programmes".
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