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#1 2005-09-24 12:49:56

Yang Liwei Rocket
Member
Registered: 2004-03-03
Posts: 993

Re: Infrared Telescopes - the USA's Spitzer & future ESA scope

ESA's Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) is an astronomical satellite that was operational between November 1995 and May 1998. It operated at wavelengths from 2.5 to 240 microns, in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum. Astronomers unveiled the deepest images from NASA's new Spitzer Space Telescope and announced the detection of distant objects -- including several supermassive black holes -- that are nearly invisible in even the deepest images from telescopes operating at other wavelengths. Spitzer Space Telescope (SST) (formerly the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF)) is an infrared space observatory, the fourth and final of NASA's Great Observatories. The largest telescope mirror ever built for space, due to be launched on board ESA’s Herschel spacecraft in 2007, has completed its assembly and first testing phase. Herschel will be the largest space telescope of its kind when launched. Herschel’s 3.5-metre diameter mirror will collect long-wavelength infrared radiation from some of the coolest and most distant objects in the Universe. Herschel will be the only space observatory to cover the spectral range from far-infrared to sub-millimetre wavelengths.


'first steps are not for cheap, think about it...
did China build a great Wall in a day ?' ( Y L R newmars forum member )

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#2 2005-09-24 13:01:10

Yang Liwei Rocket
Member
Registered: 2004-03-03
Posts: 993

Re: Infrared Telescopes - the USA's Spitzer & future ESA scope


'first steps are not for cheap, think about it...
did China build a great Wall in a day ?' ( Y L R newmars forum member )

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#3 2005-09-24 13:02:40

Yang Liwei Rocket
Member
Registered: 2004-03-03
Posts: 993

Re: Infrared Telescopes - the USA's Spitzer & future ESA scope

The primary source of infrared radiation is heat. The higher the temperature, the faster the atoms and molecules in an object move and the more infrared radiation. The infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum covers the range from roughly 300 GHz (1 mm) to 400 THz (750 nm). It can be divided into three parts: Far-infrared, Mid-infrared, and the Near-infrared. The first infrared space mission was IRAS (Infrared Astronomical Satellite) which detected about 350 000 infrared sources. Later, ESA's Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) made important studies of the dusty regions of the Universe.  Infrared can be seen around a frequency of 10^13 where Hz = 1/s and wavelengths in nm = 10-9 m. from 300 GHz (1 mm) to 30 THz (10 μm). Infrared wavelenght can be about 10^-2 cm about the size of a pin head. The far infrared and lower part of this range may also be called microwaves. This radiation is typically absorbed by so-called rotational modes in gas-phase molecules, by molecular motions in liquids, and by phonons in solids. The water in the Earth's atmosphere absorbs so strongly in this range that it renders the atmosphere effectively opaque. However, there are certain wavelength ranges ("windows") within the opaque range which allow partial transmission, and can be used for astronomy. The wavelength range from approximately 200 μm up to a few mm is often referred to as "sub-millimeter" in astronomy, reserving far infrared for wavelengths below 200 μm, the Near-infrared, from 120 to 400 THz (2,500 to 750 nm). Physical processes that are relevant for this range are similar to those for visible light.

Herschel telescope assembled
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMM848X9DE_index_0.html
The largest telescope mirror ever built for space, due to be launched on board ESA’s Herschel spacecraft in 2007, has completed its assembly and first testing phase.


'first steps are not for cheap, think about it...
did China build a great Wall in a day ?' ( Y L R newmars forum member )

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#4 2005-10-19 18:53:53

EuroLauncher
Member
From: Europe
Registered: 2005-10-19
Posts: 299

Re: Infrared Telescopes - the USA's Spitzer & future ESA scope

Herschel Observatory
http://www.thespacesite.com/260905_hers … atory.html

New views from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and corroborating theoretical models suggest that Andromeda was completely punched through by a satellite dwarf galaxy a few million years ago and is reeling from the impact
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=18040

This video shows the Herschel Sunshade/Sunshield Structural Thermal Model undergoing vibration testing on the shaker in the test center at ESTEC, Noordwijk.
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object … ctid=38163
The Herschel Space Observatory will be the largest ever infrared space observatory when it is launched in 2007. Equipped with a 3.5 metre diameter reflecting telescope and instruments cooled to close to absolute zero, Herschel will observe at wavelengths that have never previously been explored. After a four-month journey from Earth, Herschel will spend a nominal mission lifetime of three years in orbit around the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system (L2).

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