Herschel Space Observatory

:This article is about the future ESA space telescope. For the telescope on the Canary Islands, see William Herschel Telescope

Related Topics:
ESA - Space telescope - Canary Islands - William Herschel Telescope

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The Herschel Space Observatory is a mission of the European Space Agency. It is to be launched in 2007 aboard an Ariane 5 rocket together with Planck and will enter a Lissajous 700 000 km diameter orbit 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth at the second Lagrange point of the Earth-Sun system.

Related Topics:
European Space Agency - 2007 - Ariane 5 - Planck - Lagrange point - Earth-Sun system

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The mission was formerly titled the Far Infrared and Sub-millimetre Telescope (or FIRST). It will be the first space observatory to cover the full far infrared and submillimetre waveband, and its telescope will have the largest mirror ever deployed in space (three and a half metres wide). It will specialise in collecting light from distant and poorly known objects, such as newborn galaxies thousands of millions of light-years away. The light will be focused onto three instruments with detectors kept at temperatures below 2 K.

Related Topics:
Far infrared - Submillimetre

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Mission objectives:

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• To study the formation of galaxies in the early universe and their subsequent evolution.
• To investigate the creation of stars and their interaction with the interstellar medium
• To observe the chemical composition of the atmospheres and surfaces of comets, planets and satellites
• To examine the molecular chemistry of the universe

The mission is named after Sir William Herschel, who discovered the infrared spectrum.

Related Topics:
Sir William Herschel - Infrared

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