Misplaced Pages

Herschel Space Observatory: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editNext edit →Content deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 22:01, 1 March 2007 editJolb (talk | contribs)1,706 edits thousands of millions? is that a british thing?← Previous edit Revision as of 17:14, 13 March 2007 edit undo83.255.186.59 (talk)No edit summaryNext edit →
Line 10: Line 10:
|- |-
! align="left" | Wavelength regime ! align="left" | Wavelength regime
| ] | ]: 60 to 670 µm
|- |-
! align="left" | Orbit height ! align="left" | Orbit height

Revision as of 17:14, 13 March 2007

This article is about the future ESA space telescope. For the telescope on the Canary Islands, see William Herschel Telescope
Herschel Space Observatory
Organization ESA
Wavelength regime infrared: 60 to 670 µm
Orbit height 1.5×10km from Earth
(L2 Lagrangian point)
Orbit period 1 year
Launch date February 2008 (delayed from July 2007)
Deorbit date (2010 - 2011)
Mass 3,300kg
Other names Far Infrared and Submillimetre Telescope (FIRST)
Webpage http://www.esa.int/esaSC/120390_index_0_m.html
Physical Characteristics
Telescope Style Cassegrain reflector
Primary Reflector Diameter 3500 mm, f/0.5
Collecting Area 9.6m
Focal Length 27000 mm
Instruments
HIFI Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared
PACS Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer
SPIRE Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver

The Herschel Space Observatory is a mission of the European Space Agency. It is to be launched in 2008 aboard an Ariane 5 rocket together with Planck and will enter a Lissajous 700 000 km diameter orbit around the second Lagrangian point of the Earth-Sun system, 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth.

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 billions of light-years away. The light will be focused onto three instruments with detectors kept at temperatures below 2 K.

Mission objectives:

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

References

External links


Stub icon

This spacecraft or satellite related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Stub icon

This article about a specific observatory, telescope or astronomical instrument is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories: