The European Space Agency has released the first scientific results from the Herschel Infrared Space Observatory. The Observatory was launched on May 14th last year 2009 on an Ariane 5 from the European Space Agency’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The launch took place at 11:12 pm Australian Eastern Standard Time.
The Observatory carries the largest, most powerful infrared telescope ever flown in space. The telescope’s primary mirror is 3.5 m in diameter. This is more than four times larger than any previous infrared space telescope and almost one and a half times larger than that of the Hubble Space Telescope. Its size is allowing Herschel to collect almost 20 times more light than any previous infrared space telescope.
Further information about the Herschel infrared space observatory can be found here.
