| About Herschel The infrared Universe Spacecraft and telescope The mission Meet the team Multimedia Herschel imagesHerschel videosFollow me!  Herschel on Twitter
|  | | | | | | | Article Images |  |
Herschel images promise bright future
10 July 2009
| | | | | The images reveal dust in clouds where star formation is active. The nucleus and spiral arms of these galaxies show up clearly. Significantly, the frames are also filled with many other galaxies, all so distant that they show up only as point sources. There are also some extended structures visible. These are possibly due to clouds of dust in our own galaxy.
Herschel’s primary mirror is 3.5 m in diameter, nearly four times larger than any previous infrared space telescope. These images prove that Herschel enables a giant leap forward in our ability to study celestial objects at far infrared wavelengths. NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope primarily observes infrared wavelengths shorter than Herschel does, so the two telescopes complement each other.
Credits: ESA and the SPIRE Consortium | |  |  | |
| | | | | M66 (also known as NGC 3627) is a barred spiral galaxy located about 36 million light years away in the constellation Leo. The bar is made of stars, gas, and dust. The infrared SPIRE image shows warm dust, revealing that most of the dust is located in the centre of the galaxy and near the ends of the bar. Dust is also found in the spiral arms. This arrangement is caused by the forces that the bar exerts on other objects within the galaxy. Many more distant galaxies appear as blobs in the field of view.
Herschel’s primary mirror is 3.5 m in diameter, nearly four times larger than any previous infrared space telescope. These images prove that Herschel enables a giant leap forward in our ability to study celestial objects at far infrared wavelengths. NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope primarily observes infrared wavelengths shorter than Herschel does, so the two telescopes complement each other.
Credits: Herschel image: ESA and the SPIRE Consortium, Spitzer image: NASA / Spitzer SINGS | | | | |
| | | | | M74 (also known as NGC 628) is a face-on spiral galaxy located about 24 million light years from Earth in the constellation Pisces. The infrared SPIRE images trace the cold dust between the stars, clearly showing the galaxy’s spiral structure. They also contain many faint dots that are actually distant galaxies. These galaxies contain dust that radiates at infrared wavelengths, but because they are much further away, we cannot see the structure in the galaxies.
Herschel’s primary mirror is 3.5 m in diameter, nearly four times larger than any previous infrared space telescope. These images prove that Herschel enables a giant leap forward in our ability to study celestial objects at far infrared wavelengths. NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope primarily observes infrared wavelengths shorter than Herschel does, so the two telescopes complement each other.
Credits: Herschel image: ESA and the SPIRE Consortium, Spitzer image: NASA / Spitzer SINGS | | | | |
| | | | | SPIRE images of galaxy M74 at three different infrared wavelengths. These wavelengths are the equivalent of blue, green and red colours in the visible spectrum. The images have been processed to bring out the extended structure of the galaxy and to show more detail in the background sky. The image quality is best at 250 microns because all telescopes produce their sharpest images at their shortest wavelengths. By combining the three images, astronomers can measure the properties of the emitting dust and identify the nature of the many distant galaxies that also appear in the pictures.
Herschel’s primary mirror is 3.5 m in diameter, nearly four times larger than any previous infrared space telescope. These images prove that Herschel enables a giant leap forward in our ability to study celestial objects at far infrared wavelengths. NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope primarily observes infrared wavelengths shorter than Herschel does, so the two telescopes complement each other.
Credits: ESA and the SPIRE Consortium | | | | |
| | | | Water-hunter HIFI scores at first try
| Deeply hidden in the giant molecular cloud, DR21, newly formed massive stars are wreaking havoc on their stellar nursery. In this colour-coded Spitzer image of the DR 21 star-forming region, the green reveals the emission from large molecules set aglow by the newly formed stars. The large bubbles and striated clouds are caused by the complex interaction of the newly formed massive stars and their environment. To the right we see a magnified image of the active region.
HIFI will study this interaction in detail. The blue and red boxes show the area that HIFI has already surveyed for ionized carbon, a key ingredient of the molecular cloud material. The broad line at the position of the newly formed star (in red) reveals the presence of a powerful wind ripping the cloud apart. In contrast, the offset position (in blue) shows emission from quiescent material, which has not yet been disturbed by this star. The yellow stripe indicates the region studied in lines of water (right) and carbon monoxide (left) by HIFI. The large width of the carbon monoxide profile and the complex water line indicate that this material is part of a massive outflow from the newly formed star.
Credits: ESA and the HIFI Consortium | | | | |
| | | | PACS stares into the Cat’s Eye
| The panel below shows an overlay of individual spectra of the nitrogen line, all taken simultaneously with the PACS spectrometer, on the dust continuum as observed with the PACS photometer.
The width of these spectral lines can be used to determine the speed of the gas.
These very first data are of unprecedented sensitivity, accurately tracing the physical conditions in cold and warm gas. The next step is to supplement these first results with data from other atomic species to build up a picture of how the gaseous and dusty structures are shaped further out.
Credits: ESA and the PACS Consortium | | | | |
| |
| | Herschel: ESA's giant infrared observatory Space Operations & Situational Awareness Related articles Herschel’s daring test: a glimpse of things to comeHerschel cryocover is openHerschel and Planck commissioning has begunHerschel and Planck: Near-perfect injection by ArianeESA's cosmic explorers in flight: stunning images from ground and spaceRead more Observations: Seeing in infrared wavelengthsWhy infrared astronomy is a hot topicL2, the second Lagrangian PointIn depth This article in depthHerschel in depthHerschel Science CentreRelated links Cryocover opening videoHIFI at SRONPACS at MPE GarchingSPIRE at Cardiff University
|
HI-RES MP4 (Size: 
HI-RES JPEG (Size: 
HI-RES JPEG (Size: 
HI-RES JPEG (Size: 
HI-RES JPEG (Size: 
HI-RES JPEG (Size: 
HI-RES JPEG (Size: