Helium Depleted, Herschel Space Telescope Mission Ends 204
AmiMoJo writes "The billion-euro Herschel observatory has run out of the liquid helium needed to keep its instruments and detectors at their ultra-low functioning temperature. This equipment has now warmed, meaning the telescope cannot see the sky. Its 3.5m mirror and three state-of-the-art instruments made it the most powerful observatory of its kind ever put in space, but astronomers always knew the helium store onboard would be a time-limiting factor."
Reader etash points to a collection of some infrared imagery that Herschel collected.
See? See? (Score:4, Funny)
I'll bet you feel stupid for filling all those party balloons last week.
How hard can it be to send up some more? (Score:1, Funny)
Come on, even school kids can send balloons filled with helium up into space. Surely that can't be the problem?
Re:See? See? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Orbital pickup truck (Score:5, Funny)
Hey, Bruce Willis and James Bond taught me that the Space Shuttle can go anywhere!
Re:Orbital pickup truck (Score:5, Funny)
space shuttle does not fly to Lagrange points
Rumour spreadin' a-'round in that Texas town
'bout that shack outside La Grange
And you know what I'm talkin' about.
Just let me know if you wanna go
To that home out on the range.
They gotta lotta nice girls ah.
Have mercy.
A pow, pow, pow, pow, a pow.
A pow, pow, pow.
- ZZ Top...
and get off his lawn (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Orbital pickup truck (Score:1, Funny)
A pow, pow, pow, pow, a pow.
A pow, pow, pow.
Ah, their lyrics were like poetry. So intelligent.
Re:Orbital pickup truck (Score:3, Funny)
.
Re:Orbital pickup truck (Score:5, Funny)
So in the Middle Ages we killed ourselves with middles?
A bit of irony there. (Score:5, Funny)
I do know how it works and all, but still, I find it kind of ironic that the Herschel Space Telescope is bricked for lack of the second most abundant element in the universe.