Herschel has a number of key science programmes which it covers. Some are allocated to the instrument teams, so that they get data back from the telescope they have worked so hard to build. Others are allocated to the general community, and the telescope time is bid for in the same way that other observatories work.

Herschel can observe a huge range of objects, from comets in the Solar System to galaxies in the distant reaches of the Universe. The science areas are split into the six broad categories listed below. For the first half of the mission, all observations fell into one of the "Key Programmes." The observations fall into two sub-categories: "Guaranteed Time," which is awarded to the teams who helped build the satellite; and "Open Time," which is open to the entire astronomical community. Several calls for proposals have occurred, and the projects selected are shown here.

Click on the links below to see a list of the projects in each science category.

Solar
System

Planet
Formation
and
Planetary
Systems

Stars
and their
environments

Interstellar
Medium
and
Star
formation

Galaxies

Cosmology

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