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Herschel

Lighting Up Andromeda’s Coldest Rings

January 30, 2013

Want to stay on top of all the space news? Follow @universetoday on Twitter Cold rings of dust are illuminated in this image taken by Herschel’s Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE) instrument. Credit: ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech/B. Schulz (NHSC) Looking wispy and delicate from 2.5 million light-years away, cold rings of dust are seen swirling around the Andromeda [...]

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The Brightest Galaxies in the Universe Were Invisible… Until Now

December 4, 2012

Hubble images of six of the starburst galaxies first found by ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory (Keck data shown below each in blue) Many of the brightest, most actively star-forming galaxies in the Universe were actually undetectable by Earth-based observatories, hidden from view by thick clouds of opaque dust and gas. Thanks to ESA’s Herschel space [...]

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Herschel Finds Water Around a Carbon Star

September 5, 2010

There’s something strange going on around the red giant star CW Leonis (a.k.a. IRC+10216). Deep within the star’s carbon-rich veil, astronomers have detected water vapor where no water should be. CW Leonis is similar in mass to the sun, but much older and much larger. It is the nearest red giant to the sun, and [...]

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Planetary Nebulae

January 20, 2010

No, planetary nebulae are not nebulae found around planets; nor are they nebulae produced by planets … rather, they got stuck with this name because the first ones to be observed (and written about) look like planets (well, they did through the eyepieces of the telescopes of the time … somewhat). Charles Messier – yep, [...]

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Herschel Sees Hidden Stars in the Southern Cross

October 2, 2009

Science observations have begun in earnest for the Herschel Space Telescope, and this spectacular image is the first produced by combining data from two cameras aboard Herschel, the Spectral and Photometric Imaging REceiver (SPIRE), and the Photoconductor Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS). It shows a tumultuous region in the Southern Cross, visible only because the [...]

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