When: 14 May 2009 launched on an Ariane 5 from Kourou, French Guiana
Who: ESA
What: Infrared space telescope
Where: Orbiting Earth
Why: To observe cold space dust clouds and distant galaxies
How: Infrared detector, spectrometers

This telescope spots baby stars nestled in their dark clouds, it will show us the atmospheres of dark comets and small moons, and even may look back in time to the first galaxies ever made by our Universe.

The Telescope
Herschel, named for a famous brother and sister team of 19th century British astronomers, is going to be the largest space telescope ever flown. Yes, even bigger than the Hubble.

The telescope looks different to Hubble, however, because it's not looking at visible light. The face of Herschel looks more like a dish TV aerial, so it can pick up infrared and nearly radio light from objects out in space. (Read more about light in our Light, Spectra, and Redshift tutorial.)

Baby Stars
Speaking of Hubble, you've probably seen the gorgeous photos it has taken of colourful glowing gases. Well, behind every gorgeous nebula is a dark cloud many times larger. Clumps that will someday be stars are hiding inside the dark clouds. It's only when the stars begin to shine that they can light up all of that gas and dust. (For more information about star formation, please see our Star Lives and Deaths tutotorial.) Herschel will stare straight into the dark clouds and show us the dark stars within.

The Edge of the Universe
Also, you've probably heard of redshift. That's what happens to light when the glowing object is flying away from us -- its wavelengths get dragged out behind it. As they lengthen, they redden, until they go well past the reds we can see and become infrared.

So, the very very very far away stuff that's been pulled away for billions of years on the expanding space-time continuum is very very infrared indeed! Herschel will be able to see this stuff, and in so doing, will be looking back billions of years to the young universe! A UK-led team from Cardiff have designed and built the main instrument that will survey and examine these galaxies, called SPIRE.

Origins of the Solar System
Closer to home are the comets, planets and moons of our Solar System. Herschel's large dish will be able to measure the chemistry of the cold gases that surround them, giving astronomers the exact recipes for their atmospheres without having to send a probe there.

Careers
If you are interested in the career or educational opportunities arising from Herschel, here is a list of the UK participants: Cardiff University, Imperial College London, Mullard Space Science Laboratory of the University College London, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK Astronomy Technology Centre, AEA Technology, Analyticon, BOC Edwards, Datasat, and MT Satellite Products.