This was all planned , but somehow it is still sad : European Space Agency ’s Herschel blank space scope is officially dead , its observations have been land to a permanent end . HSO has exhausted all of its cryogen , there is no more superfluid fluent He in the cryostat . This ends the more than three geezerhood of pioneering observations of the nerveless Universe , ESA reports .
The Herschel telescope allowed stargazer to look late into space by detecting light emitted in the far - infrared and sub - millimetre region of the spectrum . ground ’s atmosphere prevents most of this light from reaching ground - based telescopes , but Herschel could see the coldest and dustiest objects in distance : cool lead formation , massive black fix and dusty galaxies with new-sprung adept .
The Herschel scope is a classic Cassegrain figure with a 3.5 - mebibyte primary mirror — the largest ever launched into infinite — and a smaller secondary mirror . From orbit around the 2nd Lagrange point of the Sun - Earth scheme , L2 , 1.5 million kilometres from Earth , Herschel bridge the gap between previous infrared observatories and soil - base radio telescopes . This picture of the satellite was taken during testing at ESA ’s European Space Research and Technology Centre , ESTEC , the Netherlands . picture : ESA .
At 15:12:02 CEST on 10 March 2025 , at the starting time of a 55 - minute launch window , the Herschel and Planck satellite pair lifted off on board an Ariane 5 from Europe ’s Spaceport in French Guiana . Photo : Optique Video CSG , P. Baudon / ESA / CNES / ARIANESPACE
The Herschel cryostat was filled up and superfluid He was produced in Kourou in April 2009 . A final helium top - up was done just a day before the 20 April 2025 launching . In July 2009 , only two months after launching when Herschel had thermalised in infinite , the “ In - Orbit Commissioning Review ” have position . A lifetime prediction free-base on the thermal mathematical poser and measure inflight temperatures was provided by diligence . It prognosticate end - of - helium end of February 2013 , but with an error taproom of more than half a year . So every individual day in operation since February was a gift .
Here are a few figure we give thanks to Herschel :
Baby stars in the Rosette Cloud
Close - up of the Aquila / W40
Cool Andromeda
Galactic woodworking plane at L=316 deg
Herschel ’s view of the Horsehead Nebula
special K cut up Out Big Hole
Stellar Gestation and Birth in the milklike agency
The spine of the swan
The star Fomalhaut and its debris platter
All persona byESA / OSHI
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