Herschel: the first science highlights |
Herschel: the first science highlights |
Jul 16 2010, 06:34 PM
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#1
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1729 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
The special issue of Astronomy & Astrophysics on the first results from Herschel is now available, with hundreds of papers freely accessible!
http://www.aanda.org/index.php?option=com_...s/contents.html |
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Jul 16 2010, 08:20 PM
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#2
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2492 Joined: 15-January 05 From: center Italy Member No.: 150 |
Grazie Paolo!
-------------------- I always think before posting! - Marco -
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Aug 11 2011, 07:06 PM
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#3
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1729 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
according to Herschel's twitter (ESAHerschel) they will observe comet Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova on Aug 15/16. This small, short period comet has always fascinated me since it was to be flown by "tail first" by Sakigake. Too bad contact with the probe was lost before
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Aug 21 2011, 04:28 PM
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#4
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1729 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
from Herschel's twitter:
QUOTE Quick look analysis of the Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova observations by Herschel is revealing some wonderful data. can't wait for publication... |
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Oct 5 2011, 06:54 PM
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#5
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1729 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
just published in Nature: Ocean-like water in the Jupiter-family comet 103P/Hartley 2
and this is ESA's release http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMER89U7TG_index_0.html this is one of the most amazing solar system discoveries of 2011! |
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Sep 29 2012, 05:21 AM
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#6
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1729 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
according to tweets by Daniel Fischer (@cosmos4u), Herschel should run out of coolant in March 2013 and ESA is considering end of mission scenarios. Warm observations are not possible, so one idea is to deorbit it from L2 and crash it on the Moon to perform scientific observations.
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Oct 27 2012, 07:29 AM
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#7
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1729 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
the story has been picked up by Spaceflight Now
Scientists could aim derelict telescope for moon impact |
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Oct 27 2012, 08:21 AM
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#8
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8783 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Exciting idea; very innovative!
-------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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Oct 27 2012, 11:28 AM
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#9
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1729 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
funny enough: it was also one of the possible end of mission scenarios for Chang'e 2. flying it back from L2 to impact the Moon for science
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Oct 27 2012, 01:13 PM
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#10
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Member Group: Members Posts: 214 Joined: 30-December 05 Member No.: 628 |
Is the hardware actually damaged by the lack of coolant? If Herschel were placed somewhere where it could conceivably be restocked with consumables at some future time, could it be returned to service? I guess the people who don't want to crash it probably envision some Hubble-inspired scenario like that. I recall though, that the last Hubble service call had to be performed before the gyros and other components ceased to function entirely. It wasn't something that could wait 100 years.
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Oct 27 2012, 01:57 PM
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#11
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1729 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
I see at least three reasons why this is not doable:
1. unlike the HST, Herschel was not designed to be serviceable 2. you need to use fuel to keep it into the halo orbit or to redirect it somewhere else to wait for servicing. I understand that fuel remaining is not a issue now, but it will become at a certain moment 3. orbital refuelling has been carried out until now with storable, room temperature liquids (hydrazine and water mostly). transfer of cryogenic fuels has yet to be tested, not to speak of the transfer of super-cold (less than 5K IIRC) liquid helium |
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Oct 27 2012, 08:14 PM
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#12
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Solar System Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 10146 Joined: 5-April 05 From: Canada Member No.: 227 |
Paolo said "funny enough: it was also one of the possible end of mission scenarios for Chang'e 2. flying it back from L2 to impact the Moon for science"
Strictly speaking the Toutatis flyby is not an end of mission scenario. The question is, what is the post-Toutatis trajectory? I am assuming for lack of other information that the spacecraft will not get very far from Earth and its orbit will bring it back, rather than heading off into a more distant heliocentric orbit. Is there any description of its current orbit? Phil -------------------- ... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.
Also to be found posting similar content on https://mastodon.social/@PhilStooke NOTE: everything created by me which I post on UMSF is considered to be in the public domain (NOT CC, public domain) |
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Oct 29 2012, 02:57 PM
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#13
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1729 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
some insight on the decision to crash Herschel and the possible alternatives on this blog
http://herschellife.blogspot.es/1342197754...-end-of-helium/ I would have loved the Herschel trailblazer concept: placing Herschel at the Earth-Moon L2 point to perform tests for future farside communication satellites before crashing it to the surface. unfortunately, the option was apparently deemed too expensive |
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Dec 10 2012, 05:58 PM
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#14
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1729 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
Finally, no lunar impact http://herschel.esac.esa.int/latest_news.shtml
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Dec 10 2012, 07:55 PM
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#15
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Solar System Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 10146 Joined: 5-April 05 From: Canada Member No.: 227 |
Too bad. I'm hungry for another point on the lunar map. Oh well - GRAIL coming up soon, presumably.
Phil -------------------- ... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.
Also to be found posting similar content on https://mastodon.social/@PhilStooke NOTE: everything created by me which I post on UMSF is considered to be in the public domain (NOT CC, public domain) |
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