By Jonathan Amos , Science reporter, BBC News
Herschel trains two eyes, Pacs and Spire, on our Galaxy’s centre
A remarkable view of our Galaxy has been obtained by Europe’s billion-euro Herschel Space Observatory.
The telescope was put in a special scanning mode to map a patch of sky.
The images reveal in exquisite detail the dense, contorted clouds of cold gas that are collapsing in on themselves to form new stars.
Herschel, which has the largest mirror ever put on an orbiting telescope, was launched in May as a flagship mission of the European Space Agency.
It is tuned to see far-infrared wavelengths of light and is expected to give astronomers significant insights into some of the fundamental processes that shape the cosmos.
Herschel’s great advantage is that its sensitivity allows it to see things that are beyond the vision of other space telescopes, such as Hubble.
A prime goal is to understand the mechanisms that control the earliest phases of stellar evolution.
HERSCHEL SPACE TELESCOPE
• The observatory is tuned to see the Universe in the far-infrared
• Its 3.5m diameter mirror is the largest ever flown in space
• Herschel can probe clouds of gas and dust to see stars being born
• It will investigate how galaxies have evolved through time
• The mission will end when its helium refrigerant boils off
Rich data return
Herschel’s special scanning mode means it has to shift its gaze back and forth across an area of sky, which in this case was about 16 times as big as the size of the Moon as viewed from Earth. The telescope was looking towards the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy, in the direction of the Southern Cross constellation.
The mission will end when its helium refrigerant boils off
The scanning mode works with two of Herschel’s three instruments operating in tandem.
The UK-led Spire camera responds to longer wavelengths of light (250-500 microns – that is about 500-1,000 times longer than the wavelengths of light we detect with our eyes).
The German-led Pacs camera covers shorter wavelengths (70-170 microns).
Their pictures reveal a chaotic scene of gas and dust, and stars in all stages of development.
The material being observed is very cold – typically less than minus 170C (100 kelvin).
Anomaly investigation