Follow the Herschel and Planck missions online
Herschel, ESA’s infrared space observatory, and Planck, ESA’s mission to look back to the dawn of time, launched on an Ariane 5 on 14 May 2009 from ESA’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Follow Herschel and Planck on our mission websites.
Herschel carries the largest, most powerful infrared telescope ever flown in space. A pioneering mission to study the origin and evolution of stars and galaxies, it will help understand how the Universe came to be what it is today.
Planck is the first European space observatory whose main goal is the study of the Cosmic Microwave Background – the relic radiation from the Big Bang. The spacecraft will measure the fluctuations of the CMB with an accuracy set by fundamental astrophysical limits.
This launch special website will no longer be updated.
