Herschel Results

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Protostars in Orion

01/07/2014

A Herschel study of young stars in the Orion Nebula may have helped solved one of the mysteries around our own Sun's past
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Protostars in Orion
01/07/2014
A Herschel study of young stars in the Orion Nebula may have helped solved one of the mysteries around our own Sun's past
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Galaxy Clusters from Planck
12/02/2014
By combining up with Planck, Herschel has helped identify clusters of galaxies more distant than seen before
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Ceres
22/01/2014
Herschel has made the first definive detection of water vapour on the dwarf planet Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt
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Fomalhaut C
18/12/2013
Herschel has discovered a ring of comets around the smallest star in the Fomalhaut system, providing clues about the history of the triple star system
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Argon in the Crab Nebula
13/12/2013
Astronomers using Herschel have discovered argon hydride in the Crab Nebula, the first discovery in space of a molecule including a noble gas
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Previous Results:

The first B-mode detection

Herschel has helped find elusive signals from the early Universe

Spitzer Dark Cloud 335

Herschel has helped astronomers spot the birth of one of the largest stars in our galaxy

Supernova 1987a

Herschel measurements of Supernova 1987a have detected large amounts of cosmic dust, adding weight to the theory that dust is formed in these cosmic fireworks.

Merging galaxy HXMM01

Herschel has spotted a massive galaxy in the process of forming, providing astronomers with a key missing link in the formation of the most massive galaxies we see around us today.

Sagittarius A*

Horsehead Nebula

Herschel has produced a brand new view of the region around one of the most iconic objects in the night sky: the Horsehead Nebula

HFLS3 - a record-breaking galaxy

Astronomers using Herschel have found a distant galaxy that challenges our understanding of galaxy evolution

kappa Coronae Borealis

Herschel has seen a dusty disk around an aging subgiant star, which defies expectations

W3 star-forming region

Herschel has uncovered clues as to how massive stars are born

Betelgeuse

Herschel has shown that Betelgeuse, the red supergiant star on the shoulder of Orion, is heading towards a wall of gas and dust, which it will collide with in a few thousand years.

Apophis

Herschel observed the asteroid Apophis as it passed by Earth in January 2013

Lynds 1544

Herschel has discovered enough water vapour to fill Earth’s oceans more than 2000 times over, within a gas and dust cloud that is on the verge of collapsing into a new Sun-like star.

Crab Nebula

Herschel has taken a stunning image of the Crab Nebula, the remains of a star that exploded a millenium ago, providing further proof that cosmic dust is created when massive stars die.

COSMOS Field

Herschel has identified galaxies forming stars at incredibly rapid rates, which have then been studied in greater detail using gound-based optical telescopes

Gliese 581

Herschel has discovered a debris disc around the low-mass star Gleise 581, which is also known to be orbited by 4 relatively small planets.

61 Virginis

Herschel has discovered a debris disc around the sun-like star 61 Virginis, which is also known to be orbited by 2 relatively small planets.

Supernova Remnant W44

Herschel has teamed up with ESA's XMM-Newton x-ray satellite to take a stunning image of a supernova remnant interacting with surrounding gas and dust.

DR21 Ridge

A massive filamentary ridge of gas and dust located where massive stars are currently forming.

Carina Nebula

Giant bubbles, towering pillars and cascading clouds of dust and gas fill the star-forming nursery of the Carina Nebula seen here in a stunning view from Herschel.

Chandra Deep Field North

A comparison of data from Herschel and Chandra X-ray satellite has shown that massive black holes in the centres of early galaxies influenced the number of stars that formed

Cygnus X

An incredible image of the Cygnus-X star nursery shows where the next generation of massive stars are forming.

Bootes field

A seemingly empty area of sky in the constellation of Boötes, in which Herschel find thousands of galaxies.

Fomalhaut A

Herschel observations have shown that the dusty ring around the star Fomalhaut is created by the collision of thousands of comets every day.

Centaurus A

Centaurus A is an elliptical galaxy with jets spewing from a central black hole. Together, Herschel and XMM-Newton can help unravel its secrets

The Orion Nebula

Herschel has combined forces with Spitzer to show warm and cold dust in the Orion Nebula

The Eagle Nebula

Herschel has captured a view of star formation in and around the iconic "Pillars of Creation"

Large Magellanic Cloud

The Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellte galaxy of our own Milky Way, has been mapped by the Herschel and Spitzer infrared space telescopes

Small Magellanic Cloud

The Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way, has been mapped by the Herschel and Spitzer infrared space telescopes

TW Hydrae

HIFI has detected the presence of much cold water vapour around a young star, shedding light on the role of water in the formation of planets.

Comet Hartley 2 and the Oceans of Earth

Herschel measurements of Comet Hartley 2 have added to evidence that comets could have been the source of the Earth's water

Galactic Plane: Centaurus

A swathe of the Galactic Plane as seen by Herschel, making up part of the Galactic Plane Survey

Dust rings around CW Leonis

Dusty rings have been seen around the massive star CW Leonis, suggesting that the star has been shedding its outer layers for thousands of years

GOODS-South

Herschel has shown that the most distant galaxies observed by Herschel were not different from local galaxies as astronomer expected.

Oxygen in the Orion Nebula

Herschel has discovered molecular oxygen in space for the first time, deep in the heart of the Orion Nebula.

Enceladus

Herschel has discovered that water spewing from Saturn's moon, Enceladus, is raining down into the upper atmosphere of the ringed planet.

A Twisted ring in the Galactic Centre

Herschel has taken images of a ring of gas and dust at the heart of our Galaxy, which is twisted for reasons yet to be explained.

Uranus

The planet Uranus, as seen by the SPIRE instrument on board Herschel

Interstellar Cloud IC5246

The region around the Cocoon Nebula contains a network of filaments of gas and dust.

Polaris Flare

The Polaris Flare is a network of dusty filaments in the same area of sky as the star Polaris.

Dark Matter Halos

Astronomers have used Herschel to reveal just how much dark matter it takes to give rise to a galaxy bursting with stars. The findings are a key step in understanding how dark matter contributed to the birth of massive galaxies in the early Universe.

Andromeda Galaxy

Herschel has combined forces with ESA's XMM-Newton x-ray satellite to image the Andromeda Galaxy.

Comet Hartley 2

Herschel observed comet Hartley 2 for 25 days around the time of the flyby of NASA's Deep Impact probe on 4th November 2010

Herschel-ATLAS Gravitational Lenses

The first data from the Herschel-ATLAS survey has revealed gravitational lenses - with remarkable efficiency.

CW Leonis

The red giant carbon star CW Leonis has been found to have water forming in the warm regions surrounding it - where it was previously thought to be impossible.

Abell 2218

The gravitational effect of a massive cluster of galaxies mends light to allow Herschel to see distant galaxies as they were over 10 billion years ago.

The Lockman Hole

When observed by Herschel, a small patch of sky in Ursa Major reveals thousands of distant galaxies

NGC1999 - A hole in space

Herschel has looked at a dark nebula, expecting to find a cloud of cold gas and dust. Instead, it has found that it is a hole in the nebula, excavated by the strong radiation from a nearby star.

RCW120

A massive star in the process of forming has been spotted by Herschel - and could end up being one of the biggest and brightest in our Galaxy

Galactic Plane - Vulpecula

A portion of the Galactic Plane, showing stars forming along filaments

Galactic Plane - Aquila

A portion of the Galactic Plane, showing stars blowing bubbles in the interstellar medium.

The Rosette Nebula

This image from SPIRE and PACS shows star formation in the Rosette Nebula

Complex molecules in the Orion Nebula

The HIFI spectrometer on board Herschel has detected the presence of complex molecules in regions of the Orion Nebula.

Young stars in the Eagle's Nest

Observations of a region in the disc of our Galaxy, in the constellation of Aquila the Eagle, have revealed hundreds of stars in the process of forming.

GOODS-North

Herschel has imaged a regions of sky containing thousands of distant galaxies. Some are seen as they were 10 billion years ago

Spectrum of massive star VY Canis Majoris

Spectroscopy of the largest known star in our Galaxy, VY Canis Majoris, has shown the presence of water in its outer atmosphere.

Messier 82

The galaxy Messier 82 is suffering a bout of star formation, fuelled by its close interaction with its close neighbour Messier 81. Herschel has uncovered the nature of its gas

The Southern Cross

The SPIRE and PACS instruments have worked in parallel to observe an area of sky in the far-infrared over the wavelength range of 70-500 microns.

Spiral Galaxy M74

The spiral galaxy M74 was one of the first galaxies imaged by SPIRE. As well as the galaxy itself, many much more distant background galaxies can be seen.

Spiral Galaxy M66

The spiral galaxy M66 was one of the first galaxies to be imaged by the SPIRE instrument on Herschel.

Whirlpool Galaxy

The first image aver taken by Herschel, this image of the nearby spiral Galaxy called "M51" shows the power of the Herschel telescope