Herschel telescope: the end of a successful mission four years - Reviewer

Wednesday, May 1, 2013 at 08:51 Charles Martin

Launched in May 2009, Herschel largest

infrared telescope ever launched into space, will soon give up the ghost after have enjoyed a brief career, but hyper-efficient. And four years above our heads Herschel has registered some 25,000 hours of data: “He gave us a completely new view of the universe, showing us things that we were hidden far as processes never seen the birth of stars and galaxy formation, “said Göran Pilbratt, Project Scientist at ESA.

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So why put

Herschel telescope to retire so early? In fact, it was more or less expected, since the device the ESA has exhausted its 2300 liters of liquid helium needed to cool its instruments at a level close to absolute zero (-271 ° C). In other words, Herschel Telescope has exhausted its fuel and can not really go back to the full …

“The end of the Herschel observations in no way means the end of the mission we still many discoveries to be made, thanks to the observations recorded,” concludes Göran Pilbratt. Telescope will eventually be placed in orbit around the Sun in the coming days to finish his short life …