The Herschel Space Observatory:

stellar surprises and galaxies galore

Dr Haley Gomez

The smoky Universe

The silver lining

But it’s tricky...

INFRARED = recycled starlight warm dust

optical sub-mm

SUBMILLIMETRE = recycled starlight from colder dust

galaxies in the distant Universe are very dusty!

the 6 year old Universe

a surprising result…

The Herschel SpaceObservatory

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New window - 55 to 672 um

Three novel instruments - photometry in 6 colours, image spectroscopy, high resolution spectroscopy

Superior sensitivity

Largest mirror = 3.5m

• PACS (57 - 210 μm)• Imaging photometer• Grating spectrometer

• SPIRE (200 - 670 μm)• Imaging photometer• Fourier transform spectrometer

•HIFI (157- 212 and 240 - 625μm)•Heterodyne spectrometer

PACSSPIRE

HIFI

Instruments

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What can we do with Herschel?

424 days since launch5.39 light seconds from Earth

Open Time by Country of Proposal PI

- Density, temperatures, different conditions - Probes of star forming clouds and young dusty galaxies

Molecules

Solar system666 hrs

how do stars form?

3710 hrs

1286 hrsstar death

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~6000 hrsJosh Barnes

galaxies

13 billion

12 billion

8 billion

5 billion

10 100 1,000 10,000

10,000

1000

100

10

1

0.1

1.5 billion light years

Brig

htne

ss

Wavelength (micrometres)

Some magic

Millenium simulation

the cosmic web

First Light and Science Demonstration

MoleculesCarbon star CW LEO

MESS

Molecules - OrionHIFI HEXOS

SPIRE

Credit: ESA and the PACS consortium, E.F. van Dishoeck for the WISH Key Programme Consortia

Water everywhere~ million oceans

star formation

Matthew Bates, Exeter

Gould Belt

copyright Robert Gendler 2007

Credit: ESA and the SPIRE & PACS consortia, for the HOBYS Key Programme Consortium

copyright Robert Gendler 2007

Hi-GAL - Aquila Filaments of star formation

Galactic Plane

Dust heated by stars

RCW120

Bubble blown by hot star

Young, forming star

HOBYS

Hi-GAL - Vulpecula

Galactic Plane

Bubble blown by stars

RCW120

“Hole in Space”

HOPS

Galaxies SINGS

Herschel Reference Survey

NGS

M86 M86

NGC4402 NGC4402

NGC4438 NGC4438

HRS & HeViCS

Galaxies Galore

HerMES

H-ATLAS

Small dust cloud

Galactic “cirrus”

Hot off the press

www.herschel.cf.ac.uk

Herschel Special Issue First Science Meeting

May 2010http://herschel.esac.esa.int/SDP_IR_wkshop.shtml

Herschel Special Issue First Papers

June 2010

What’s next?

SAFARI - SPICA Herschel but at 4.5K

FIRI

The next generation