Herschel Space Observatory - PACS
The Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) is one of the three instruments aboard ESA's fourth cornerstone mission in the Horizon 2000+ project, the Herschel Space Observatory. Herschel is a space telescope observing in the Far-InfraRed and sub-millimeter wavelength region. The institute is one of the consortium members with a large participation in the Instrument Control Centre (ICC).
The Herschel Space observatory (HSO) was launched on 14 May 2009. It is the fourth cornerstone mission of the ESA science programme. With a 3.5 m Cassegrain telescope it is the largest space telescope ever launched. It is performing photometry and spectroscopy in approximately the 55-671 μm range, bridging the gap between earlier infrared space missions and groundbased facilities.
Herschel has already brought a revolution in the research fields of early solar systems, low
mass star formation, the nature of galaxies leading to different star formation epochs at
different redshift, late phases of stellar evolution and the study of feedback mechanisms
from the latter to the first with the first direct detection of triggered star formation. Two years after the start of the routine observations, almost 300 refereed papers based on Herschel results have been published and more than a dozen conferences dedicated to Herschel results have been organised in Europe and the US.
Belgium is involved in the HSO through a partnership at the co-PI level for a 20% share in the Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS). This instrument is designed for imaging through 3 filters at 70, 110 and 170 micron using a bolometer array, and medium resolution spectroscopy using an imaging spectrometer, between 60 and 200 micrometer.
The initial involvement of a broad range of astronomers across the Belgian community in guaranteed time key programmes has paved the way for a substantial Belgian involvement in open time key programmes and a fast and impressive return in terms of peer reviewed publications. Merely more than a year after launch, more than 60 refereed papers on Herschel results have been published with Belgian co-authors. The first Herschel-based paper appearing in the journal Nature was based on Belgian guaranteed time.
The Instituut voor Sterrenkunde at K.U.Leuven is mainly involved in the Herschel ground segment activities and the Instrument Control Center (ICC) for the PACS instrument. Thanks to the good knowledge of the instrument built up in the team during the ground tests and the mission preparation, we have been able to play a key role in bringing the initial performance of the instrument and the observatory to the present level. The impressive number of discoveries and publications early in the mission would not have been possible without this early preparation of calibration concepts, data handling facilities, data processing infrastructure, data processing pipelines and interactive analysis tools.
People involved
Christoffel Waelkens Joris Blommaert Wim De Meester Katrina Exter Rik Huygen Christophe Jean Sara Regibo Pierre Royer Bart Vandenbussche Eva Bauwens
Related links
Herschel information at the ESA Science portal
The PACS consortium pages
PACS information at MPE, Garching
