It has proven the superiority of its infrared instruments

Jun 22, 2009 20:01 GMT  ·  By
Red, green and blue correspond to the 160-micron, 100-micron and 70-micron wavelength bands of the Herschel’s Photoconductor Array Camera and Spectrometer
   Red, green and blue correspond to the 160-micron, 100-micron and 70-micron wavelength bands of the Herschel’s Photoconductor Array Camera and Spectrometer

In the first tests of the largest infrared telescope ever constructed, Herschel mission controllers opened the observatory's eyes on June 14th, and set it to take snapshots of the Messier 51 galaxy. More famously known as the whirlpool galaxy, Messier 51 was discovered by Charles Messier back in 1773, and its name comes from the fact that its spiral arms look like they are spinning in circles. Herschel used its Photoconductor Array Camera and Spectrometer for the new study, and obtained images of the famous stellar formation in three colors, proving the superiority of its instruments over any others'.

Located some 35 million light-years away, the target galaxy is one of the first ever observed to sport a spiral structure. The formation is located in the constellation Canes Venatici. The telescope, which recently managed to get to its designated location, the L2 Lagrangian point, succeeded in getting the pictures in the 70-, 100- and 160-micron wavelengths, only a few hours after its cover had been jettisoned. A new set of pictures was taken on June 15th.

Although the first scientific observations were not expected for at least a few more weeks, mission controllers decided to test the telescope's giant antenna as soon as the lid was blown off it, so as to get a “sneak preview” of what lay ahead, in terms of scientific achievements. The telescope is, at this point, undergoing its commissioning and testing phases, which will probably be concluded soon. Regularly, it takes a few months between the time the telescopes are launched and the time when they actually start producing relevant pictures and sending back solid data streams.

The science team behind the European Space Agency's Herschel said that the difference between this observatory and the Spitzer Space Telescope – the only infrared observatory that has roughly similar performances – was very significant. They added that the details they uncovered in the telescope's image of M51 were not visible in any of the images Spitzer took of the same formation. It would appear, the team explained, that shorter wavelengths were, indeed, the way to go when it came to observing distant galaxies and stars.