Herschell Space Observatory

Mission Profile

Herschel Space Observatory was an ESA infrared space telescope launched on 14 May 2009 aboard an Ariane 5 ECA to the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point, operating from 2009 to 2013. At the time of launch it was the largest infrared telescope ever placed in space, with a 3.5-meter primary mirror cooled by superfluid helium to within a degree of absolute zero. Herschel observed star-forming regions, the cold dust in galaxies, and the composition of comet atmospheres across far-infrared and submillimetre wavelengths largely inaccessible from the ground. Its observations fundamentally advanced understanding of how stars and galaxies form, and it detected water in the atmosphere of Uranus and in protoplanetary disks around young stars.