Author Topic: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates  (Read 87893 times)

Online catdlr

  • Member
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 11169
  • Enthusiast since the Redstones
  • Marina del Rey, California, USA
  • Liked: 8787
  • Likes Given: 7817
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #100 on: 04/29/2013 11:21 pm »
Just to add the announcement from NASA:

April 29, 2013

PASADENA, Calif. -- The Herschel observatory, a European space telescope for which NASA helped build instruments and process data, has stopped making observations after running out of liquid coolant as expected.

The European Space Agency mission, launched almost four years ago, revealed the universe's "coolest" secrets by observing the frigid side of planet, star and galaxy formation.

"Herschel gave us the opportunity to peer into the dark and cold regions of the universe that are invisible to other telescopes," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington. "This successful mission demonstrates how NASA and ESA can work together to tackle unsolved mysteries in astronomy."

Confirmation the helium is exhausted came today, at the beginning of the spacecraft's daily communication session with its ground station in Western Australia. A clear rise in temperatures was measured in all of Herschel's instruments.

Herschel launched aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana in May 2009. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., built components for two of Herschel's three science instruments. NASA also supports the U.S. astronomical community through the agency's Herschel Science Center, located at the California Institute of Technology's Infrared Processing and Analysis Center in Pasadena.

Herschel's detectors were designed to pick up the glow from celestial objects with infrared wavelengths as long as 625 micrometers, which is 1,000 times longer than what we can see with our eyes. Because heat interferes with these devices, they were chilled to temperatures as low as 2 kelvins (minus 271 degrees Celsius, or 456 Fahrenheit) using liquid helium. The detectors also were kept cold by the spacecraft's orbit, which is around a stable point called the second Lagrange point about 930,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth. This location gave Herschel a better view of the universe.

"Herschel has improved our understanding of how new stars and planets form, but has also raised many new questions," said Paul Goldsmith, NASA Herschel project scientist at JPL. "Astronomers will be following up on Herschel's discoveries with ground-based and future space-based observatories for years to come."

The mission will not be making any more observations, but discoveries will continue. Astronomers still are looking over the data, much of which already is public and available through NASA's Herschel Science Center. The final batch of data will be public in about six months.

"Our goal is to help the U.S. community exploit the nuggets of gold that lie in that data archive," said Phil Appleton, project scientist at the science center.

Highlights of the mission include:

-- Discovering long, filamentary structures in space, dotted with dense star-making knots of material.
-- Detecting definitively, for the first time, oxygen molecules in space, in addition to other never-before-seen molecules. By mapping the molecules in different regions, researchers are learning more about the life cycles of stars and planets and the origins of life.
-- Discovering high-speed outflows around central black holes in active galaxies, which may be clearing out surrounding regions and suppressing future star formation.
-- Opening new views on extremely distant galaxies that could be seen only with Herschel, and providing new information about their high rates of star formation.
-- Following the trail of water molecules from distant galaxies to the clouds of gas between stars to planet-forming solar systems.
-- Examining a comet in our own solar system and finding evidence comets could have brought a substantial fraction of water to Earth.
-- Together with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, discovering a large asteroid belt around the bright star Vega.

Other findings from the mission include the discovery of some of the youngest stars ever seen in the nearby Orion "cradle," and a peculiar planet-forming disk of material surrounding the star TW Hydra, indicating planet formation may happen over longer periods of time than expected. Herschel also has shown stars interact with their environment in many surprising ways, including leaving trails as they move through clouds of gas and dust. More information is online at http://www.herschel.caltech.edu , http://www.nasa.gov/herschel and http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Herschel .
« Last Edit: 04/29/2013 11:22 pm by catdlr »
Tony De La Rosa, ...I'm no Feline Dealer!! I move mountains.  but I'm better known for "I think it's highly sexual." Japanese to English Translation.

Offline Lar

  • Fan boy at large
  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 13463
  • Saw Gemini live on TV
  • A large LEGO storage facility ... in Michigan
  • Liked: 11864
  • Likes Given: 11086
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #101 on: 04/30/2013 03:07 am »

It needs LHe and not propellant.  LHe is not a ISRU commodity.   Also, it is not an orbit conductive to servicing.   Cheaper to launch an upgraded observatory.

I put "fuel" in quotes for a reason, I realise it's not a propellant. But it's a consumable. What upgrades would be worth doing, and why was the vehicle designed with only a 3 year life? As for the rest...

LHe is not an ISRU commodity TODAY. [1]
Herschel was not in an orbit conductive to servicing TODAY[2]

You're taking too short a view to answer my question.

1 - we will have a vast array of other chemicals produced via ISRU first
2 - we don't have a fleet of tugs that are constantly moving around among various orbits
"I think it would be great to be born on Earth and to die on Mars. Just hopefully not at the point of impact." -Elon Musk
"We're a little bit like the dog who caught the bus" - Musk after CRS-8 S1 successfully landed on ASDS OCISLY

Offline Ben the Space Brit

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7206
  • A spaceflight fan
  • London, UK
  • Liked: 806
  • Likes Given: 900
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #102 on: 04/30/2013 11:26 am »
@ Lar,

The point Jim is making is that it is pointless talking about what might be available in the future as the spacecraft is unlikely to remain serviceable long enough for a servicing vehicle to be funded, designed, built and deployed.  That's assuming that it is possible to service Herschel in space, which I bet isn't the case.

There is an argument for designing future observatories to be upgradable and maintainable the way HST was.  However, that would require simultaneous development of the spacecraft, the resupply vehicle and transfer interface.  That would be costly; possibly justified but costly.  It would be a daring space agency that proposed that in the current economic environment.

If you want to add HST-style upgradability/repair capacity, that would cost even more and depend on SLS + a work platform or another large BLEO crew vehicle being available.
"Oops! I left the silly thing in reverse!" - Duck Dodgers

~*~*~*~

The Space Shuttle Program - 1981-2011

The time for words has passed; The time has come to put up or shut up!
DON'T PROPAGANDISE, FLY!!!

Offline Lar

  • Fan boy at large
  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 13463
  • Saw Gemini live on TV
  • A large LEGO storage facility ... in Michigan
  • Liked: 11864
  • Likes Given: 11086
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #103 on: 04/30/2013 01:02 pm »
@ Lar,

The point Jim is making is that it is pointless talking about what might be available in the future as the spacecraft is unlikely to remain serviceable long enough for a servicing vehicle to be funded, designed, built and deployed.  That's assuming that it is possible to service Herschel in space, which I bet isn't the case.

There is an argument for designing future observatories to be upgradable and maintainable the way HST was.  However, that would require simultaneous development of the spacecraft, the resupply vehicle and transfer interface.  That would be costly; possibly justified but costly.  It would be a daring space agency that proposed that in the current economic environment.

If you want to add HST-style upgradability/repair capacity, that would cost even more and depend on SLS + a work platform or another large BLEO crew vehicle being available.

The point *I* am making is that if we keep doing one off PROJECTS, where we drop a billion here, 2 billion there, 8 billion there, instead of putting effort into infrastructure first, we will NEVER get beyond throwaway spacecraft. Any given project doesn't have the budget for infrastructure. So we muddle along wastefully.

Jim will never get that, I expect.
"I think it would be great to be born on Earth and to die on Mars. Just hopefully not at the point of impact." -Elon Musk
"We're a little bit like the dog who caught the bus" - Musk after CRS-8 S1 successfully landed on ASDS OCISLY

Offline ohlongjohnson

  • Member
  • Posts: 46
  • Liked: 25
  • Likes Given: 21
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #104 on: 04/30/2013 02:04 pm »
I haven't found the answer to my question anywhere, so I am trying here. Is there anything Herschel will do once it has arrived in its parking orbit? Can some of the instruments still be used to do observations in wavelengths that are not affected by the increased temperatures?

thanks!

Offline plutogno

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 892
  • Toulouse, France and Milan, Italy
  • Liked: 240
  • Likes Given: 35
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #105 on: 04/30/2013 03:18 pm »
without helium, instruments are blind, but the radiation monitors are still working. these are standard ESA SREM detectors, copies of those mounted eg on XMM, Rosetta etc. I read somewhere that there was a proposal to keep them alive to return data. I don't know whether this will be done or not

Offline plutogno

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 892
  • Toulouse, France and Milan, Italy
  • Liked: 240
  • Likes Given: 35
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #106 on: 04/30/2013 03:24 pm »
found!
http://herschellife.blogspot.es/1342197754/july-12th-2012-218-days-to-nominal-end-of-helium/

Quote
The ESA Space Weather Team is keen to maintain Herschel operational as long as possible because of the information that it provides on the radiation environment in Deep Space. Herschel will finish observing just as we reach solar maximum, so any time that it can spend after solar maximum will be a tremendous bonus, particularly if it could observe for a full solar cycle. For this, it does not matter of Herschel is in the Earth-Sun L2, the Earth-Moon L2, or in heliocentric orbit: the environment is similar and totally different to that in low-Earth orbit, where most satellites are, protected by the Earth’s magnetic field.

Offline ohlongjohnson

  • Member
  • Posts: 46
  • Liked: 25
  • Likes Given: 21
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #107 on: 04/30/2013 03:55 pm »
thanks for the answers!

Online MP99

Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #108 on: 04/30/2013 08:44 pm »
See: http://www.designntrend.com/articles/4051/20130429/herschel-telescope-european-space-agency-nasa-observatory.htm

ESA says the mission of Herschel is over after just 3 years, it has run out of liquid He to keep it cool and as it warms, it no longer can resolve things.  Plans are to "pacify" it and then put it in a heliocentric parking orbit.

1 Billion Euros... Has it taken all the pictures it possibly could take, or was there useful science it could have done ? How much would it cost to re"fuel" it, if we assumed a robust ISRU based infrastructure, and that it had been built to support refueling?


It needs LHe and not propellant.  LHe is not a ISRU commodity.   Also, it is not an orbit conductive to servicing.   Cheaper to launch an upgraded observatory.

Tsk, Jim. You're forgetting Lunar He3.

cheers, Martin

Offline baldusi

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8356
  • Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • Liked: 2539
  • Likes Given: 8273
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #109 on: 04/30/2013 09:42 pm »
The point *I* am making is that if we keep doing one off PROJECTS, where we drop a billion here, 2 billion there, 8 billion there, instead of putting effort into infrastructure first, we will NEVER get beyond throwaway spacecraft. Any given project doesn't have the budget for infrastructure. So we muddle along wastefully.
Are you aware that Herchel was in SEL2? Did you even attempted to do the numbers to bring a few kilograms of Liquid He once each three years, or be an optimist and say once each 6 months? Have you considered that Liquid He will be lost and with a cryocooler you might get, at best, a couple of extra years?
Have you considered the process of refilling a craft that's been thermally stabilized to close to 40K? And the risk on the loss of pressurization system? Please remember that even Hydrogen solidifies at this temperatures.
Oh! And you want to take humans there. Have you considered the radiation exposure?
Have you even considered that Herchel's science objectives might have been achieved and further observations, while valuable, wouldn't be as ground braking?
Now, do the numbers to develop a reusable infrastructure to bring humans plus a small spacestation to SEL1/2 bi yearly, then add the savings on the science missions and tell me if you save anything. I'm most interested on your discount factors and risk modelling. I'll read your paper very carefully, I promise.

Offline Lar

  • Fan boy at large
  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 13463
  • Saw Gemini live on TV
  • A large LEGO storage facility ... in Michigan
  • Liked: 11864
  • Likes Given: 11086
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #110 on: 04/30/2013 10:27 pm »
Now, do the numbers to develop a reusable infrastructure to bring humans plus a small spacestation to SEL1/2 bi yearly, then add the savings on the science missions and tell me if you save anything. I'm most interested on your discount factors and risk modelling. I'll read your paper very carefully, I promise.

RIght. You'll never develop a business case evaluating one mission. No single mission cuts it.

Two engineers were asked to evaluate the business case for a new Hudson River crossing... seems it was suggested because all the current crossings stacked up bumper to bumper. They took a boat and went out in the middle of the river... then reported back.

"No business case! We were out there all day, and not a single car crossed at that location"

You guys are right. Let's just keep dumping billions into funding more Lewis and Clark expeditions, flags and footprints, etc... no business case for railroads.
"I think it would be great to be born on Earth and to die on Mars. Just hopefully not at the point of impact." -Elon Musk
"We're a little bit like the dog who caught the bus" - Musk after CRS-8 S1 successfully landed on ASDS OCISLY

Offline baldusi

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8356
  • Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • Liked: 2539
  • Likes Given: 8273
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #111 on: 04/30/2013 10:49 pm »
Now, do the numbers to develop a reusable infrastructure to bring humans plus a small spacestation to SEL1/2 bi yearly, then add the savings on the science missions and tell me if you save anything. I'm most interested on your discount factors and risk modelling. I'll read your paper very carefully, I promise.

RIght. You'll never develop a business case evaluating one mission. No single mission cuts it.

Two engineers were asked to evaluate the business case for a new Hudson River crossing... seems it was suggested because all the current crossings stacked up bumper to bumper. They took a boat and went out in the middle of the river... then reported back.

"No business case! We were out there all day, and not a single car crossed at that location"

You guys are right. Let's just keep dumping billions into funding more Lewis and Clark expeditions, flags and footprints, etc... no business case for railroads.
I've bolded the fact that I spoke in plural. Second, I asked you to do you case. I'm an economist and econometrist. I know a thing or two about supply and demand and present value.
I'm asking you to estimate the cost of the infrastructure and and savings that would justify it. If you want to assume a hundred science/tourism/whatever missions per year to SEL1/2, it's all right. I'll just ask you to tell me what's the value in general and how are they going to be financed. I'll give you a very professional assessment.
If you don't know how to value it, at least explain to me the technical side of the "infrastructure" and I'll tell you how many missions you'd need to actually make it worth it. But stating plainly that the true problem is lack of infrastructure to replenish/maintain/repair BEO robotic missions, is almost fanaticism.
I've stated on multiple times the need to do things long term, to never stop your technology development efforts, to invest at least a little in potential breakthrough technologies. But that can be backed by hard numbers. If you'd make that statement for LEO, we might have even had some reasonable discussion. But we're talking about places that can be argued to be BEO, with missions that costs hundred if not thousands of millions. I just want to know what sort of numbers you have in your head to state so plainly what you said. Or you don't have any numbers and are acting just on "faith"?
« Last Edit: 04/30/2013 10:50 pm by baldusi »

Offline Jim

  • Night Gator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 37440
  • Cape Canaveral Spaceport
  • Liked: 21451
  • Likes Given: 428
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #112 on: 04/30/2013 11:12 pm »
@ Lar,

The point Jim is making is that it is pointless talking about what might be available in the future as the spacecraft is unlikely to remain serviceable long enough for a servicing vehicle to be funded, designed, built and deployed.  That's assuming that it is possible to service Herschel in space, which I bet isn't the case.

There is an argument for designing future observatories to be upgradable and maintainable the way HST was.  However, that would require simultaneous development of the spacecraft, the resupply vehicle and transfer interface.  That would be costly; possibly justified but costly.  It would be a daring space agency that proposed that in the current economic environment.

If you want to add HST-style upgradability/repair capacity, that would cost even more and depend on SLS + a work platform or another large BLEO crew vehicle being available.

The point *I* am making is that if we keep doing one off PROJECTS, where we drop a billion here, 2 billion there, 8 billion there, instead of putting effort into infrastructure first, we will NEVER get beyond throwaway spacecraft. Any given project doesn't have the budget for infrastructure. So we muddle along wastefully.

Jim will never get that, I expect.

No, I get it.  You just don't get that:
A. NASA and all the other space agencies don't fly enough telescope  missions to justify such infrastructure, much less even science missions.  The bulk of NASA spacecraft go in unserviceable orbits.
B.  it is not NASA or the govt's job but industry's.
c.  Since there is no killer app, the market doesn't justify the investment in the infrastructure.

Offline Jim

  • Night Gator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 37440
  • Cape Canaveral Spaceport
  • Liked: 21451
  • Likes Given: 428
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #113 on: 04/30/2013 11:17 pm »
Now, do the numbers to develop a reusable infrastructure to bring humans plus a small spacestation to SEL1/2 bi yearly, then add the savings on the science missions and tell me if you save anything. I'm most interested on your discount factors and risk modelling. I'll read your paper very carefully, I promise.

RIght. You'll never develop a business case evaluating one mission. No single mission cuts it.

Two engineers were asked to evaluate the business case for a new Hudson River crossing... seems it was suggested because all the current crossings stacked up bumper to bumper. They took a boat and went out in the middle of the river... then reported back.

"No business case! We were out there all day, and not a single car crossed at that location"

You guys are right. Let's just keep dumping billions into funding more Lewis and Clark expeditions, flags and footprints, etc... no business case for railroads.

Your analogy not applicable to science missions, in addition to being wrong.  There was commerce already crossing the Hudson.  a few trips in a boat to gather fish for science would not justify the  "bridge"

Online mmeijeri

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7772
  • Martijn Meijering
  • NL
  • Liked: 397
  • Likes Given: 822
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #114 on: 05/01/2013 11:19 am »
You guys are right. Let's just keep dumping billions into funding more Lewis and Clark expeditions, flags and footprints, etc... no business case for railroads.

That's a false dichotomy. NASA could do expeditions without using orbital infrastructure and create enough demand for such infrastructure in the process. Spacecraft refueling at L1/L2 could be procured more or less today (for delivery a few years from now), and from several competing suppliers. That is enough for even very large and ambitious exploration missions.

Over time all the infrastructure we might need might be developed by the market based solely on that demand and any additional commercial demand it might generate. And if we care about cost-effective transportation, simply providing the demand for spacecraft propellant at L1/L2 and leaving the rest to the market might be one of the best ways to do it.
Pro-tip: you don't have to be a jerk if someone doesn't agree with your theories

Offline bolun

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3557
  • Europe
  • Liked: 970
  • Likes Given: 110
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #115 on: 05/04/2013 05:10 pm »
Recent images from ESA's Herschel space observatory

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Highlights/Herschel_images

Offline jacqmans

  • Moderator
  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 21709
  • Houten, The Netherlands
  • Liked: 8562
  • Likes Given: 320
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #116 on: 05/22/2013 07:08 pm »
RELEASE: 13-151

HERSCHEL SPACE OBSERVATORY FINDS MEGA MERGER OF GALAXIES

WASHINGTON -- A massive and rare merging of two galaxies has been
spotted in images taken by the Herschel space observatory, a European
Space Agency mission with important NASA participation.

Follow-up studies by several telescopes on the ground and in space,
including NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope,
tell a tale of two faraway galaxies intertwined and furiously making
stars. Eventually, the duo will settle down to form one super-giant
elliptical galaxy.

The findings help explain a mystery in astronomy. Back when our
universe was 3 billion to 4 billion years old, it was populated with
large reddish elliptical-shaped galaxies made up of old stars.
Scientists have wondered whether those galaxies built up slowly over
time through the acquisitions of smaller galaxies, or formed more
rapidly through powerful collisions between two large galaxies.

The new findings suggest massive mergers are responsible for the giant
elliptical galaxies.

"We're looking at a younger phase in the life of these galaxies -- an
adolescent burst of activity that won't last very long," said Hai Fu
of the University of California at Irvine, who is lead author of a
new study describing the results. The study is published in the May
22 online issue of Nature.

"These merging galaxies are bursting with new stars and completely
hidden by dust," said co-author Asantha Cooray, also of the
University of California at Irvine. "Without Herschel's far-infrared
detectors, we wouldn't have been able to see through the dust to the
action taking place behind."

Herschel, which operated for almost four years, was designed to see
the longest-wavelength infrared light. As expected, it recently ran
out of the liquid coolant needed to chill its delicate infrared
instruments. While its mission in space is over, astronomers still
are scrutinizing the data, and further discoveries are expected.

In the new study, Herschel was used to spot the colliding galaxies,
called HXMM01, located about 11 billion light-years from Earth,
during a time when our universe was about 3 billion years old. At
first, astronomers thought the two galaxies were just warped, mirror
images of one galaxy. Such lensed galaxies are fairly common in
astronomy and occur when the gravity from a foreground galaxy bends
the light from a more distant object. After a thorough investigation,
the team realized they were actually looking at a massive galaxy
merger.

Follow-up characterization revealed the duo is churning out the
equivalent of 2,000 stars a year. By comparison, our Milky Way
hatches about two to three stars a year. The total number of stars in
both colliding galaxies averages out to about 400 billion.

Mergers are fairly common in the cosmos, but this particular event is
more unusual because of the prolific amounts of gas and star
formation, and the sheer size of the merger at such a distant epoch.

The results go against the more popular model explaining how the
biggest galaxies arise: through minor acquisitions of small galaxies.
Instead, mega smash-ups may be doing the job.

NASA's Herschel Project Office is based at the agency's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, which contributed
mission-enabling technology for two of Herschel's three science
instruments. For more information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/herschel

and

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Herschel

Jacques :-)

Offline bolun

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3557
  • Europe
  • Liked: 970
  • Likes Given: 110
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #117 on: 10/03/2013 04:39 pm »
Herschel helps find elusive signals from the early Universe

1 October 2013

Using a telescope in Antarctica and ESA’s Herschel space observatory, astronomers have made the first detection of a subtle twist in the relic radiation from the Big Bang, paving the way towards revealing the first moments of the Universe’s existence.

The elusive signal was found in the way the first light in the Universe has been deflected during its journey to Earth by intervening galaxy clusters and dark matter, an invisible substance that is detected only indirectly through its gravitational influence.

The discovery points the way towards finding evidence for gravitational waves born during the Universe’s rapid ‘inflation’ phase, a crucial result keenly anticipated from ESA’s Planck mission.

The relic radiation from the Big Bang – the Cosmic Microwave Background, or CMB – was imprinted on the sky when the Universe was just 380 000 years old. Today, some 13.8 billion years later, we see it as a sky filled with radio waves at a temperature of just 2.7 degrees above absolute zero.

Tiny variations in this temperature – around a few tens of millionths of a degree – reveal density fluctuations in the early Universe corresponding to the seeds of galaxies and stars we see today. The most detailed all-sky map of temperature variations in the background was revealed by Planck in March.

But the CMB also contains a wealth of other information. A small fraction of the light is polarised, like the light we can see using polarised glasses. This polarised light has two distinct patterns: E-modes and B-modes.

E-modes were first found in 2002 with a ground-based telescope. B-modes, however, are potentially much more exciting to cosmologists, although much harder to detect.

They can arise in two ways. The first involves adding a twist to the light as it crosses the Universe and is deflected by galaxies and dark matter – a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing.

The second has its roots buried deep in the mechanics of a very rapid phase of enormous expansion of the Universe, which cosmologists believe happened just a tiny fraction of a second after the Big Bang – ‘inflation’.

The new study has combined data from the South Pole Telescope and Herschel to make the first detection of B-mode polarisation in the CMB due to gravitational lensing.

“This measurement was made possible by a clever and unique combination of ground-based observations from the South Pole Telescope – which measured the light from the Big Bang – with space-based observations from Herschel, which is sensitive to the galaxies that trace the dark matter which caused the gravitational lensing,” says Joaquin Vieira, of the California Institute of Technology and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who led the Herschel survey used in the study.

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Herschel/Herschel_helps_find_elusive_signals_from_the_early_Universe

Image credit: ESA and the Planck Collaboration

Offline bolun

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3557
  • Europe
  • Liked: 970
  • Likes Given: 110
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #118 on: 10/14/2013 07:23 pm »

Offline bolun

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3557
  • Europe
  • Liked: 970
  • Likes Given: 110

Tags:
 

Advertisement NovaTech
Advertisement Northrop Grumman
Advertisement
Advertisement Margaritaville Beach Resort South Padre Island
Advertisement Brady Kenniston
Advertisement NextSpaceflight
Advertisement Nathan Barker Photography
0