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| The Herschel Space Observatory |
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The Herschel Space Observatory, scheduled for launch in 2008, will help scientists determine how early galaxies formed and evolved. Since most of the universe is too cold to radiate light in the visible wavelength range, Herschel will observe dust-obscured, cold objects by capturing far-infrared to sub-millimetre wavelengths.
Herschel will make observations of great sensitivity. The mirror of the telescope is 3.5 metres in diameter. Its three scientific instruments are cooled to near absolute zero by liquid helium to achieve maximum sensitivity to the thermal infrared astronomical sources. To maintain such extremely low temperatures the observatory must be stationed far away from our relatively warm Earth. It will be placed far out in the darkness and cold of space, in an orbit around the second Lagrangian point, about 1.5 million kilometres from Earth.
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Artist's impression of the Herschel Space Observatory.
(Source: Prof. Michel Fich)
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A space observatory like Herschel, unhindered by Earth's atmosphere, is the only facility equipped to study planetary systems or processes like the birth of galaxies in the early universe. Herschel is to have a very busy four-year life and promises to make discoveries as extraordinary as those of the Hubble Space Telescope.
The observatory has three instruments and Canada is contributing to two of them -- the HIFI and SPIRE instruments:
- Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared (HIFI)
- HIFI looks at a single point in the sky. It is a spectrometer, an instrument that splits light into individual components in the light spectrum.
- Canada is contributing hardware components to this complex instrument.
- Photometric Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS)
- PACS receives infrared light-not from one point, but from a small patch in the sky. It is an infrared spectrometer and camera.
- Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE)
- SPIRE looks simultaneously at a whole region in the sky. It is an infrared camera and spectrometer.
- The University of Lethbridge leads the Canadian contribution to SPIRE with team members from all over the country and is supported by the Canadian Space Agency.
For more information, please refer to the European Space Agency web page on the Herschel Space Observatory.
For more information on infrared astronomy, please visit the Space Science section of the European Space Agency website.
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