Herschel – the largest space telescope

With its 3.5-meter mirror and cryogenic science payload, ESA's Herschel Space Observatory will deliver unprecedented images and spectra of very cool, distant, and poorly known objects in the universe. As the first of a new generation of space telescopes, Herschel will study stars being born in our own Galaxy, the evolution of newborn galaxies billions of light-years away, and primitive objects dating from the formation of our own solar system. Herschel will also provide unprecedented sensitivity and resolution, thanks to the largest mirror ever used in space - almost twice as big as that of the Hubble Space Telescope - and three instruments with detectors kept at temperatures close to absolute zero. The Herschel telescope, named after the pioneering astronomers William and Caroline Herschel, will be launched in 2008 onboard a European Ariane 5 rocket. The mission builds upon the legacy of ESA's Infrared Space Observatory, launched in 1995, and of later infrared missions like the US Spitzer and Japanese Akari.

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