Herschel was launched on 14 May 2009 as the fourth `cornerstone' mission in the ESA science program. With a 3.5 m Cassegrain telescope it is the largest space telescope ever launched. It will perform photometry and spectroscopy in the 55-672 µm range with a set of three instruments using sophisticated, large-format detector arrays and spectrometers to bridge the gap between earlier infrared space missions and ground-based facilities.

Herschel will operate from the L2 point. It is designed to observe the `cool universe' , with the potential of elucidating structure formation in the universe, resolving the far infrared cosmic background, revealing cosmologically evolving AGN/starburst symbiosis and galaxy evolution at the epochs when most stars in the universe were formed, unveiling the physics and chemistry of the interstellar medium and its molecular clouds, the wombs of the stars, and unraveling the mechanisms governing the formation and evolution of stars and their planetary systems, including our own solar system.

Herschel is an observatory facility. Commencing in about November 2009 it will offer three years of routine science observations. It is available for the worldwide scientific community, with roughly two thirds of the observing time being `open time' that will be allocated through a standard competitive proposal procedure.

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Work on the Herschel Mission at CfA

CfA scientists are involved on about half of the currently planned Guaranteed Time and Open Time Key Programs of Herschel, which include the categories of Solar System, ISM/Star Formation, Galaxies/AGN, and Cosmology.

Besides general active involvement in the science observations, CfA staff will be emphasizing refined and recalibrated photometry and source extractions, far-infrared spectral energy distribution modeling, 3-D radiative transfer modeling of lines, chemistry of the ISM, and ground-based follow-up observations.

People

This is a partial list of CfA astronomers currently involved with Herschel programs. The next call for observing proposals is expected around December 2009.