Two new space telescopes have been launched on thursday May 14 at 15:12 (Dutch time): the Herschel and Planck telescopes. They were launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) from Kourou in French Guyana with an Ariane-5 rocket. With these two telescopes astronomers will be able to observe the universe in unprecedented detail.
One of the three instruments aboard the Herschel telescope is the socalled Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared (HIFI). This spectrometer will map the universe in an up till now uncharted wavelength range, the submillimeter range which lies in between the infrared and radio. HIFI is built under supervision of SRON in Groningen.
Read more about this ESA mission.
| Last modified: | May 18, 2009 13:18 |
