Herschel Mission

Running head: The Herschel Mission

The Herschel Mission – A Time Machine

Abstract

Human ingenuity has reached new heights; advancement in astronomical engineering has enabled the human species to observe phenomena that takes place at (almost) incalculable distances. One of the main objectives of the Herschel Mission is to observe the radiation emitted from stars, galaxies, clusters and other interstellar structures; these observations are important to astrophysicists because it helps them to better understand how stars (like the Sun) form and expand through the universe; this mission has enriched our comprehension of the structure of our universe – as well as the stars in our own galaxy. Many of the celestial bodies that are being observed are billions of light years away – this means that the Herschel Telescope is observing astronomical phenomena that could have potentially occurred billions of years ago. When stars emit radiation, that radiation travels at a constant speed; then, the observer is given an image of what certain stars, clusters, or galaxies looked like before our existence. The high powered Herschel Observatory is in essence - a time machine; this study of the Herschel Mission will explain how the Herschel Observatory functions, where it operates, and lastly, it will report some of the conclusions drawn from (some of) its observations thus far.

The Herschel Mission – A Time Machine

The European Space Agency spent 1100 million Euro’s (approximately 1.4 billion dollars) to fund the Herschel Mission. This Herschel Mission was launched in May of 2009 so that the ESA (in collaboration with astrophysicists and astronomy organizations from around the world) could get a clearer view of the cold regions of the old universe. This ‘observatory’ has been using infrared technology to observe stars that are millions (and sometimes billions) of light years away; the main objective of gathering this data is to assist astrophysicists in determining...