Herschel telescope closes eye on the universe

Essential for cooling the observatory’s highly sensitive instruments to around absolute zero, the telescope’s supply of over 2,300 litres of liquid helium has been slowly evaporating since  its launch aboard an Ariane5 rocket on 14th May 2009. Confirmation that the coolant had run out came yesterday (Monday 29th April), when the spacecraft reported a rise in temperature to its ground station in Western Australia.

Named after the German-British astronomer William Herschel, Herschel is equipped with a giant 3.5m diameter primary mirror and was designed to study the formation of stars and galaxies and the relationship between the two. 

The telescope has given astronomers the best view yet of the universe at far-infrared and submillimetre wavelengths and has bridged the gap in the spectrum between what can be observed from the ground and earlier space missions of this kind. It has made over 35,000 scientific observations, amassing more than 25,000 hours’ worth of science data from about 600 observing programmes.