At 13.12 GMT on 14 May 2009, an Ariane 5 rocket carrying two brand new space telescopes launched into space. The two telescopes were Herschel, the largest infrared space telescope ever launched, and Planck, which will make the most sensitive maps of early Universe over the whole sky. Herschel separated from the upper stages of the …
Author archives: chrisnorth
NGC1999 – A hole in space
Basic Information What is this? A hole through a nebula, blown out by jets and winds of gas from nearby stars Where is it in the sky? In the constellation of Orion the Hunter, just south of the famous “Orion Nebula” How big is it? The green nebula in the top left is about a …
Galactic Plane – Aquila
Basic Information What is this? A region of the Galactic Plane showing stars forming and blowing bubbles in space Where is it in the sky? Towards the constellation of Aquila the Eagle How big is it? The image is two degrees across How far away is it? The material is thousands of light years away …
Galactic Plane – Vulpecula
Basic Information What is this? A region of the Galactic Plane showing stars forming in filaments Where is it in the sky? Towards the constellation of Vulpecula How big is it? The image is two degrees across How far away is it? The material is thousands of light years away What do the colours represent? …
RCW120
Basic Information What is this? A bubble in space around a massive star, with another massive star forming on its boundary – seen as a bright white object on the bottom of the bubble Where is it in the sky? In the constellation of Scorpius How big is it? The bubble is about 10 light …
The Rosette Nebula
Basic Information What is this? The Rosette Nebula Where is it in the sky? In the constellation of Monoceros the Unicorn How big is it? The image is about 65 light years across How far away is it? About 5500 light years What do the colours represent? The red is cooler gas and dust, while …
Complex molecules in the Orion Nebula
Basic Information What is this? A region of the Orion Nebula Where is it in the sky? In the the constellation of Orion the Hunter (in his sword) How big is it? The Orion Nebula is more than 20 light years across, and appears about 1 degree across on the sky, but at any one …
Hi-Five for HIFI!
After a number of months offline, the third of Herschel’s instruments is back online. HIFI, which is a high resolution spectrometer has recently been turned back on after being shut down by a fault in early August 2009. After months of effort to understand the problem and ensure that it does not happen again, the instrument …
First Science Results from Herschel!
Herschel scientists are meeting in Madrid to present the results from the Science Demonstration Phase of the mission. This is the phase of the mission where the satellite and its instruments are stretched to their full capabilities. A number of results involving the SPIRE instrument and astronomers from the UK have been presented. Professor Matt …
Young Stars in the Eagle’s Nest
Basic Information What is this? A star formation region Where is it in the sky? In the constellation of Aquila the Eagle How big is it? About 65 light years across How far away is it? About 1000 light years away What do the colours represent? Blue represents hot gas and dust, being warmed by …