European telescope enters the universe

On May 14, 2009, two European telescopes Herschel and Planck will be launched into orbit from the Kourou space airport (French Guiana).

Herschel telescope (left) and Planck (right).Photo: ESA

Ariane 5 missiles will bring telescopes to a position 1.5 million km away from the earth facing the sun, very convenient to study the universe.

Herschel is 7.5 meters tall and equipped with infrared glasses, tasked with studying stars and galaxies that can receive signals. Planck will screen the shortwave in the universe and detect radio waves. It will collect data to understand the beginning of the universe. According to Professor David Southwood: 'This is one of the events that the European Space Administration (ESA) implemented to celebrate the international astronomical year'.

Herschel and Planck are part of new-generation observatories and telescopes. In the future, these observatories will be brought deeper into the universe, beyond the moon's orbit. This will help scientists better observe the universe. The two telescopes above will operate in very low temperature environments, detected in areas of -273 degrees Celsius.

Planck has now been assembled into Arian boosters 5.

Herschel will be launched a few days later. Herschel brought a large storage tank of helium solution with the task of cooling the devices.