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| Rare merger illuminates origin of 'red and dead' galaxies |
| Astronomers have found a rare encounter between two massive and gas-rich galaxies in a survey from Herschel. The event took place when the Universe was only about three billion years old and involved two galaxies forming stars with exceptional efficiency whilst in the process of merging. This galactic collision would go on to form a very massive elliptical galaxy with hardly any star formation activity. The discovery suggests a viable mechanism for the origin of the puzzling 'red and dead' galaxies that are seen in the young Universe. |
| Date: 22 May 2013 |
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| Herschel reveals the Milky Way's warm heart |
| What heats gas near supermassive black holes at the centre of galaxies? Astronomers have looked at the centre of our Galaxy, the Milky Way, with ESA's Herschel Space Observatory and discovered a rich variety of molecules at surprisingly high temperatures - up to 1000 K. The new data suggest that the molecular gas is heated up by shocks, in addition to ultraviolet radiation from massive stars close to the Galactic Centre. Shocks develop in the gas as the material surges towards Sagittarius A*, the region harbouring the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way. |
| Date: 07 May 2013 |
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| Observation gives way to examination as Herschel coolant runs out |
| The liquid helium coolant that enabled instruments on board the Herschel space observatory to collect extraordinary images and spectra has finally run out. Launched in 2009, the ESA mission collected unprecedented data of the cool as well as of the distant Universe. Herschel's observations have exceeded expectations, enabling scientists to learn more about how stars form, about the rates of star formation in galaxies across the cosmos, and about the origin and presence of water in different celestial bodies. While observations have come to an end and the spacecraft is to be propelled to a stable parking orbit around the Sun, where it will remain indefinitely, the science mission will continue for several years with many discoveries still to be made in the treasure trove of images and spectra collected by the observatory. |
| Date: 29 Apr 2013 |
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| Herschel links water in Jupiter's stratosphere to 1994 comet impact |
| Astronomers have finally found direct proof that almost all water present in Jupiter's stratosphere was delivered by comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which struck the planet in 1994. The result is based on new data from Herschel that revealed more water in Jupiter's southern hemisphere, where the impacts occurred, than in the north as well as probing the vertical distribution of water in the planet's stratosphere. |
| Date: 23 Apr 2013 |
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| Star factory in the early Universe challenges galaxy evolution theory |
| ESA's Herschel space observatory has discovered an extremely distant galaxy making stars more than 2000 times faster than our own Milky Way. Seen at a time when the Universe was less than a billion years old, its mere existence challenges our theories of galaxy evolution. |
| Date: 17 Apr 2013 |
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| Retired star found with planets and debris disc |
| ESA's Herschel space observatory has provided the first images of a dust belt - produced by colliding comets or asteroids - orbiting a subgiant star known to host a planetary system. |
| Date: 09 Apr 2013 |
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| Hunting high-mass stars with Herschel |
| In this new view of a vast star-forming cloud called W3, ESA's Herschel space observatory tells the story of how massive stars are born. |
| Date: 27 Mar 2013 |
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| Herschel gets to the bottom of black-hole jets |
| Astronomers using ESA's Herschel space observatory have detected emission from the base of black-hole jets for the first time. While studying the black-hole binary system GX 339-4 in a multi-wavelength observation campaign, they noticed changes in the source's X-ray and radio emissions signalling the onset of powerful jets being released from the black hole's vicinity. This prompted the astronomers to observe the source at far-infrared wavelengths with Herschel. As the first observation of emission from jets in a black-hole binary system at these wavelengths, the data have allowed the astronomers to probe the jets down to their base, where the far-infrared emission originates. Herschel's contribution to the multi-wavelength observations has proved a crucial addition to the understanding of black-hole jets and of the physical processes that take place very close to a black hole. |
| Date: 12 Mar 2013 |
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| Herschel to finish observing soon |
| ESA's Herschel space observatory is expected to exhaust its supply of liquid helium coolant in the coming weeks after spending more than three exciting years studying the cool Universe. |
| Date: 05 Mar 2013 |
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| Black holes and star formation: a Herschel perspective |
| The effects of supermassive black holes on their host galaxies pose a tricky puzzle: are black holes able to influence, and possibly even suppress, star-formation activity on galactic scales? Astronomers have been searching for a signature of such a feedback effect, and have been spurred on recently by the large surveys of distant galaxies compiled with ESA's Herschel Space Observatory. A variety of results has emerged from the first joint analyses of these data and other observations, performed either in X-rays or in radio waves, but the only certainty so far is that it remains a vexed question. |
| Date: 13 Feb 2013 |
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| Herschel sizes up massive protoplanetary disc |
| Astronomers using Herschel have detected heavy molecular hydrogen in the protoplanetary disc around the nearby star TW Hydrae. Detected for the first time in a protoplanetary disc, this molecule - which consists of one hydrogen and one deuterium atom - can be used as a tracer of the disc's main constituent - molecular hydrogen, consisting of two hydrogen atoms. The observations allowed the first accurate determination of the mass of a protoplanetary disc. With a mass equivalent to 50 times that of Jupiter, the disc around TW Hydrae is several times more massive than the primordial disc that gave birth to our Solar System, offering the tantalising prospect of the star hosting a complex planetary system in the future. |
| Date: 30 Jan 2013 |
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| Herschel intercepts asteroid Apophis |
| ESA's Herschel space observatory made new observations of asteroid Apophis as it approached Earth this weekend. The data shows the asteroid to be bigger than first estimated, and less reflective. |
| Date: 09 Jan 2013 |
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| New galaxy census highlights importance of starbursts |
| Astronomers have used ESA's Herschel Space Observatory to identify thousands of previously undetected starburst galaxies - among the most prolific stellar factories in the Universe. Follow-up observations with the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawai'i have provided redshift measurements for almost 800 of these galaxies, which appear to span the past 12 billion years of cosmic history. The study confirms that, although less numerous than 'ordinary' galaxies, these infrared-bright galaxies played an important role in star formation throughout the history of the Universe. This rich data set will also allow future investigations into the physical mechanisms that triggered such intense star formation. |
| Date: 04 Dec 2012 |
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| Low-mass planets make good neighbours for debris discs |
| Astronomers using ESA's Herschel Space Observatory have detected massive debris discs around 61 Virginis and Gliese 581, two nearby stars that are known to host super-Earth planets. The study also reveals that debris discs are preferentially found in planetary systems with low-mass planets rather than in those hosting high-mass planets. This suggests that debris discs may survive more easily in the absence of very massive planets, and highlights the importance of debris discs in the study of planet formation. |
| Date: 27 Nov 2012 |
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| Large water reservoirs at the dawn of stellar birth |
| ESA's Herschel space observatory has discovered enough water vapour to fill Earth's oceans more than 2000 times over, in a gas and dust cloud that is on the verge of collapsing into a new Sun-like star. |
| Date: 09 Oct 2012 |
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| Comet crystals found in a nearby planetary system |
| Pristine material that matches comets in our own Solar System have been found in a dust belt around the young star Beta Pictoris by ESA's Herschel space observatory. |
| Date: 03 Oct 2012 |
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| The most powerful black holes quenched their galaxy's star formation |
| A survey of galaxies performed with ESA's Herschel Space Observatory has shown that only the most powerful black holes in the early Universe were able to quench the formation of stars in their host galaxies. This finding is an important contribution to our understanding of one of the most hotly debated phases of galaxy evolution. |
| Date: 10 May 2012 |
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| Herschel images extrasolar analogue of the Kuiper Belt |
| New images from ESA's Herschel Space Observatory reveal the glow from dust in the debris disc - a structure resembling the Kuiper Belt in the primordial Solar System - around the young star Fomalhaut. Detailed studies suggest that the dust in this debris disc consists of 'fluffy' aggregates of grains, which are produced by the frequent collisions taking place between comets within the disc. |
| Date: 11 Apr 2012 |
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| Herschel's new view on giant planet formation |
| Astronomers have used ESA's Herschel Space Observatory to observe 2MASS1207, a peculiar brown dwarf with its own circumstellar disc and a planetary companion five times more massive than Jupiter. These new data provide the first image of this system taken at sub-millimetre wavelengths and show that the disc's mass amounts to a few times the mass of Jupiter. The presence of such a massive disc around this ten-million-year old brown dwarf suggests that its planetary companion formed directly from the disc's fragmentation. This reopens the debate on how giant planets form around stellar and sub-stellar objects.
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| Date: 13 Mar 2012 |
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| Herschel discovers tip of cosmic iceberg around nearby young star |
| Using ESA's Herschel Space Observatory to study one of the closest protoplanetary discs to Earth, astronomers have detected cold water vapour for the first time in such an environment. Located in a thin layer at intermediate depths in the disc, the cold vapour hints at a much larger reservoir of water ice hidden deeper in the disc and amounting to several thousand times the mass of water that makes up our planet's oceans. The discovery sheds new light on the presence and role of water in the early formation stages of a planetary system. |
| Date: 20 Oct 2011 |
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