Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T04:10:29.677Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Herschel mission and observing opportunities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2009

F. Boulanger ,
C. Joblin ,
A. Jones ,
S. Madden  and
G.L. Pilbratt
G.L. Pilbratt*
Affiliation:
European Space Agency, Research and Scientific Support Department, ESTEC/SCI-SA, Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands
*
[email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Herschel is the fourth cornerstone mission in the European Space Agency (ESA) science programme. It will perform imaging photometry and spectroscopy in the far infrared and submillimetre part of the spectrum, covering approximately the 55–672 µmm range and thus bridging the traditional space infrared range with the groundbased capabilities.
The key science objectives emphasize fundamental issues connected to the formation and evolution of galaxies and stars and stellar systems. However, Herschel will be an observatory facility and its unique capabilities will be available to the entire astronomical community for a wide range of observations. Herschel is equipped with a passively cooled 3.5 m diameter classical Cassegrain telescope. The science payload complement – two cameras/medium resolution spectrometers (PACS and SPIRE) and a very high resolution heterodyne spectrometer (HIFI) – is housed in a superfluid helium cryostat. The ground segment is jointly developed by the ESA, the three instrument consortia, and NASA/IPAC. Herschel is scheduled to be launched into a transfer trajectory towards its operational orbit around the Earth-Sun L2 point by an Ariane 5 ECA (shared with the ESA cosmic background mapping mission Planck) in 2009. Once operational about half a year after launch, Herschel will offer 3 years of routine science operations. Almost 20 000 hours of observing time will nominally be made available for astronomy, 32% is guaranteed time, the remainder is open time which is offered to the worldwide general astronomical community through a standard competitive proposal procedure.

Type
Research Article
Information
European Astronomical Society Publications Series , Volume 35: Interstellar Dust from Astronomical Observations to Fundamental Studies , 2009 , pp. 15 - 31
Copyright
© EAS, EDP Sciences, 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aussel, H., Cesarsky, C.J., Elbaz, D., & Starck, J.L., 1999, A&A, 342, 313
de Graauw, T., & Helmich, F., 2001, in The Promise of the Herschel Space Observatory, ESA SP-460, 45
Griffin, M.J., Abergel, A., Ade, P., et al., Ad. Sp. R., 40, 612
Hester, J.J., Scowen, P.A., Sankrit, R., et al., 1996, Astron. J. 111, 2349
Hughes, D.H., Serjeant, S., Dunlop, J., et al., 1998, Nature, 394, 241 CrossRef
McCaughrean, M.J., 1997, in Herbig-Haro Flows and the Birth of Stars, ed. B. Reipurth and C. Bertout, Proc. IAU Symp., 182, 551
Passvogel, T., & Juillet, J.-J., 2003 in IR Space Telescope and Instruments, ed. J.C. Mather, Proc. SPIE, 4850, 598
Pilbratt, G.L., Altieri, B., Blommaert, J.A.D.L., et al., 1998, A&A, 333, 9
Pilbratt, G.L., Cernicharo, J., Heras, A.M., Prusti, T., & Harris, R. (eds.) 2001, The Promise of the Herschel Space Observatory, ESA SP-460 (available online on HSC website under “Conferences/Workshops”)
Pilbratt, G.L., in Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Space Telescopes, ed. J.C. Mather, Proc. SPIE, 5487, 401
Poglitsch, A., Waelkens, C., Bauer, O.H., et al., 2006, Proc. SPIE, 6265, 62650B CrossRef
Sein, E., Toulemont, Y., Safa, F., et al., 2003, in IR Space Telescopes and Instruments, ed. J.C. Mather, Proc. SPIE, 4850, 606 CrossRef
Williams, R.E., Blacker, B., Dickinson, M., et al., 1996, Astron. J., 112, 1335 CrossRef
Wilson, A. (editor) 2005, The Dusty and Molecular universe – A prelude to Herschel and ALMA, ESA SP-577 (most talks available online: http://aramis.obspm.fr/DUSTY04/main.php)