The Herschel Telescope Close To Blast Off 136
pha7boy writes "The Herschel space observatory, the European Space Agency's answer to the Hubble Telescope, is about to be sent into orbit. With a mirror 1.5 times the size of the Hubble mirror, the Herschel will look at the universe in the infrared and sub-millimeter range. This 'will permit Herschel to see past the dust that scatters Hubble's visible wavelengths, and to gaze at really cold places and objects in the Universe — from the birthing clouds of new stars to the icy comets that live far out in the Solar System.'"
Re:Cant wait (Score:3, Insightful)
Infrared? (Score:5, Insightful)
If it's in infrared, then it's NOT a Hubble replacement, it's a Spitzer [nasa.gov] replacement.
Re:Why not visible light? (Score:1, Insightful)
Because the radiation emitted by stars isn't just visible light. There's all sorts of EM waves being transmitted. By gathering a range of EM waves, instead of just visible light, we can gather information, which is critical when you think of the tiny numbers of photons we receive from these distant stars.
Re:Why not visible light? (Score:4, Insightful)