“First detection of water vapour in a pre-stellar core,” by P. Caselli et al. has been accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Herschel studied the dark cloud L1544 as part of the Water in Star-forming regions with Herschel (WISH) key programme using the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared spectrometer (HIFI) on Herschel.

Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA. HIFI was designed and built by a nationally funded consortium led by SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research. The consortium includes institutes from France, Germany, USA, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan.

For more information, please contact:

Markus Bauer
ESA Science and Robotic Exploration Communication Officer
Tel: +31 71 565 6799
Mob: +31 61 594 3 954
Email: markus.bauer@esa.int

Paola Caselli
University of Leeds
Email: p.caselli@leeds.ac.uk

Göran Pilbratt
ESA Herschel Project Scientist
Tel: +31 71 565 3621
Email: gpilbratt@rssd.esa.int