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Herschel Space Observatory Science & Technology Facilities Council Herschel 2.indd 1 03/03/2011 15:46 The Herschel Space Observatory was launched in May 2009, and is now 1.5 million km away from Earth. It’s main mirror is 3.5 metres in diameter, the largest ever launched. Herschel is led by the European Space Agency, but is an international consortium involving dozens of institutions from Europe and North America. The Andromeda Galaxy The Rosette Nebula To find out more about the Herschel mission try the following resources: WORLD WIDE WEB SITES Herschel UK outreach site: http://herschel.cf.ac.uk Herschel & Planck Facebook site: http: //pl-pl.facebook.com/pages/Herschel-and-PlanckAstronomy/30562814194 ESA Education website: www.esa.int/education ESA Herschel overview: www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Herschel/index.html ESA Herschel in-depth: http://sci.esa.int/ science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=16 Cardiff University’s SPiRE instrument page: www. astro.cf.ac.uk/research/instr/projects/?page=spire Rutherford Appleton Laboratory’s SPiRE instrument page: www.spire.rl.ac.uk/ ESA Astronomy Podcast science @ ESA episode 3: Herschel: http://astronomy2009.esa.int/science-e/ www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=44073 BOOKS Stardust John Gribbin Penguin, 2001 The Milky Way Distant Galaxies in Draco Further Information The Science and Technology Facilities Council operates world-class, large-scale research facilities; supports scientists and engineers world-wide; funds researchers in universities and provides strategic scientifc advice to government. The Council’s Science in Society unit offers a wide range of support for teachers, scientists and communicators to facilitate greater engagement with STFC science which includes astronomy, space science, particle physics and nuclear physics: Herschel is making the best ever measurements of the gas and dust between the stars in our Galaxy. In visible light, this dust appears dark and opaque, but Herschel’s instruments work at much longer infrared wavelengths. To Herschel, the dust is no longer dark but glows with its own light, producing stunning images. Herschel Uncovering the early Universe FOR SCHOOLS • Free Publications and resource guides suitable for teaching ages 10-18. GOODS-North Star Formation in Aquila After our own Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy is the nearest large galaxy, at just 2.5 million light years away. Herschel can study the dust in Andromeda in great detail, which helps astronomers understand our own Galaxy even better. The dust is seen in the visible light image (top left) as dark lanes, but Herschel can highlight the bright ring of dust, which is around 75,000 light years in diameter. This may be a result of the Andromeda Galaxy’s violent past. We see the disc of our own Milky Way edge-on, and look through the spiral arms. Herschel is mapping the edge-on disc of our Galaxy, showing the gas and dust in intricate detail, such as the region shown on the right. Bright regions contain clusters of young stars, which create waves and bubbles in the remaining gas and dust, leading to more stars being born. • Funding for projects and school visits. • A Moon rock and meteorite loan scheme. • Visits to STFC’s UK laboratories in Cheshire, Oxfordshire and Edinburgh plus CERN in Geneva. • Researchers in Residence. Teachers are placed in partnership with young scientists who have been trained to support the teacher, act as role models and introduce their research. Go to www.stfc.ac.uk/teachers In these images, blue material is warmer, being heated by stars within, while red material is cooler and more diffuse. The Rosette Nebula shows gas and dust forming new stars in dense clumps, while being swept back by the intense radiation from young, hot stars off to the right of the image. The dust forms pillars which are heated by the intense light. For further information telephone 01793 442175 Galaxy Stuart Clark Quercus Publishing, 2009 STFC publishes information on a variety of topics related to physics and astronomy, to help increase public awareness of the UK’s achievements in science and technology. Find out more by visiting the STFC website: www.stfc.ac.uk Cassiopeia A CW Leonis Cassiopeia A is all that remains of a massive star which exploded hundreds of years ago, in an event called a supernova. The explosion was not observed, most likely due to the thick clouds of dust which lie in between it and the Earth. Herschel sees the dust in our Galaxy, shown in red, as well as the material thrown out by the supernova itself. The ring of gas and dust contains enough material to form 25,000 Earths, but this is still only a fraction of the mass of the Sun. Supernovae are one possible source of all the dust we see. The star “CW Leonis” is a massive star nearing the end of its life. It is throwing off its outer layers. In 2009, Herschel discovered that water vapour is being formed much closer to the star than previously thought, at temperatures approaching 1000 degrees. Herschel also observes much more distant galaxies, seen when the Universe was only a fraction of its current age. Around 10 billion years ago, galaxies were very different from our own, forming stars at a much higher rate. Herschel is helping to understand how they have evolved over cosmic time. In the images above. each spot is a distant galaxy, containing billions of stars. Science & Technology Facilities Council Herschel 2.indd 2 03/03/2011 15:47