While astronomical
and cosmological knowledge of the universe has grown by leaps and bounds in the
past few decades, some details remain beyond the grasp of current space- and
ground-based telescopes — but not for long.
Two space
telescopes, Herschel
and Planck, are set to be launched in tandem by the European Space Agency (ESA)
on May 14. They will peer deeper into space and time than any telescope in
history.
NASA gets
most of the attention when it comes to space telescopes, with the Hubble
Space Telescope leading the way (Hubble is however a joint project with
ESA). But that could soon change.
The observations
made by these two European observatories could revolutionize our understanding
of our universe, and answer some "basic questions about our place in the
universe," said Paul Goldsmith, the NASA project scientist for Herschel at the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., which provided some of the key
technology for the telescopes.
Herschel
will be the largest, most powerful infrared telescope ever launched into space,
and its observations in the far-infrared to sub-millimeter wavelengths of light
will allow astronomers to study some of the coldest objects in space, not
visible in other wavelengths.
Probing
the universe
Herschel
will look for the signature of water in comets in our own solar system, as well
as in the interstellar gas and dust clouds that give rise to stars and planets.
When
Herschel peers into those clouds, it will also be looking into the womb of star
formation and should be able to see the formation of proto-stars for the first
time.
The
telescope will also look back in time to get the first good glimpse at the
intense star formation early in the universe's history in young galaxies that
shine brightly in the infrared.
"Herschel's
going to really end up rewriting the books on how stars form," Goldsmith said.
Meanwhile,
Planck will be looking in the microwave part of the
spectrum, mapping the fossil light of the universe, the Cosmic Microwave
Background (CMB) that is the relic radiation of the Big Bang, and learning more
about the universe in its infancy.
Planck will
be able to look at fluctuations in the CMB in more detail than ever before,
which will tell astronomers more about how the large-scale structures of the
universe — from galaxies to large voids — formed and evolved.
"Planck
will provide the most precise data on the early Universe ever. We have never
been so close to the Big Bang," said Rashid Sunyaev, director of the Max
Planck Institute for Astrophysics in German, which provided some of the
software for Planck.
Planck will
also turn its eye on two of the universe's most mysterious quantities: dark
matter and dark energy.
'Waiting
eagerly'
The
telescopes will be sent into space aboard an Ariane 5 ECA launcher from the
Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana.
They will make
their observations from the L2 Lagrangian
point of the sun-Earth system — a gravitational stability point in space
about 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth in the opposite
direction of the sun — freeing the instrumentation from the interfering
radiation of the sun, Earth and moon.
It will be
two months before Planck and Herschel reach their final destination, and once
they do, all their systems will have to be checked out before astronomers can
start probing the heavens. Goldsmith estimates that the first observations will
come in October.
Herschel
and Planck won't last forever — they are slated for 3.5-year and 15-month
missions, respectively. There is some possibility of extending those missions,
but ultimately the helium that cools their instruments will run out.
But even
without an extension, each mission promises to enhance our understanding of the
universe we live in, and right now, astronomers are "waiting eagerly for things
to get going," Goldsmith said.
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