William Atkins
Friday, 15 May 2009 19:40
Science -
Space
Page 2 of 3
Paul Goldsmith, NASA project scientist for Herschel at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, states,
"Herschel's going to really end up rewriting the books on how stars form.” [MSNBC: “
New telescopes to peer into cosmic corners”]
One of Herschel’s important instruments is
SPIRE, short for Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver. Scientists looking through the eyes of Herschel are hoping to see some of the early stars and galaxies born to the new Universe.
The
Planck Observatory will be peering into the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). This is the radiation (light) that has been left over from the Big Bang, the theoretical beginning to our Universe.
Scientists looking at this early Universe through Planck hope to see as far back as when the Universe was a mere baby, only 380,000 years of age. It has matured since then, now estimated to be 13.7 billion years old (that is, 13,700,000,000 years).
Rashid Sunyaev, director of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (Gemany), stated,
“Planck will provide the most precise data on the early Universe ever. We have never been so close to the Big Bang.” [MSNBC]
Scientists at Cardiff University are among the many that have played key roles in planning the three-to-four-year missions and developing the instruments onboard the two probes. They have dedicated many years to the success of these missions. For them, yesterday was one filled with apprehension and excitement.
British astrophysicist Peter Hargrave, from the School of Physics and Astronomy at Cardiff University, stated before the launch, "
There's an 85% chance of success. But that still means there's a 15% chance that 15 years of your life will go up in smoke….But at times like this you just have to put your faith in science and engineering and hope everyone's done their maths right." [BBC News: “
Jitters and joy at rocket launch”]
More information about the two missions are provided by the iTWire article “
Herschel and Planck missions to show Baby Universe.”
Page three adds more about Thursday's first spacewalk by the STS-125 astronauts.
