2009-06-20

The communications window will be the first reduced to 3 hours and will start at 14:50:21UT. Less time is now needed for Real Time tests.

Tomorrow, Day 39, will be a day mainly for HIFI tests. Herschel will swap communications window with @Planck and take the afternoon slot.

At 00UT tonight @Planck will be 235000km (0.61 Lunar Distances) from Herschel, receding at 129m/s and will be magnitude 15.2 from Herschel.

Herschel is now 1.0255AU from the Sun and receding at 172m/s. It remains in the constellation of Ophiuchus.

Tonight at 00UT Herschel will be 1.496 million kilometres from Earth and receding at 100m/s. Signals now take 5.0 seconds to arrive.

It's been a very long, hard week here. Getting those first images involved a huge amount of work behind the scenes, which still continues.

2009-06-19

María Santos (XMM): My sincere congratulations for the successful opening of the telescope and the very nice first-light Herschel image.

The images are remarkable because the instruments are still being tuned (hence all the commissioning observations) & not ready yet to use.

The settings later identified as being the "best" were the first to be processed when the data started to come down!

As PACS were not sure of the exact instrument settings to use many different settings were tried over 21h. Later obs. showed which was best.

And yet more Sneak Preview links: http://www.mpe.mpg.de/News/... - MPE (PACS) http://www.cea.fr/ - CEA

More links: http://bit.ly/1gJOT - ESA http://bit.ly/lGh4b - HSC Latest News

There were some very tired people on Tuesday because the last people to leave Monday night almost coincided for the first to arrive Tuesday.

People were applauding and whooping with joy when the initial images suddenly appeared on a computer screen abouit 8pm on Monday.

It has been a spectacular effort by the team at PACS, at MOC and at the HSC to get these images so fast. People have worked extremely hard.

The observations were taken with PACS, about 2 hours after cryocover opening, in the 70, 100 and 160 micron bands.

Very first images, but the optical performance of Herschel meets our high expectations.

Finally, we can reveal the news that we have been keeping quiet all week...Herschel's first images were taken on the 14th and are amazing!

2009-06-18

Herschel will be 1.0253AU from the Sun and receding at 205m/s, still moving south-east in the constellation of Ophiuchus.

Tonight at 00UT, Herschel will be 1.478 million kilometres from Earth and receding at 109m/s. Signals take 4.9 seconds to reach Earth.

The JPL's Horizons system (http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/hor...) has updated its orbit for Herschel to reflect the latest manoeuvre.

The first of the telescope mirrors has fallen below 100K. The mirrors are at 99.4K and 103.2K respectively.

The inside of the helium tank is now at 1.677K, making it a superb place to visit if you are an infrared photon.

There have been a lot of HIFI and SPIRE activities today. It has been a very busy day for the two instrument teams.

As of today 181 of 284 commissioning activities have been completed (63%). We are almost two-thirds of the way through check-out.

The requirement, with the detectors switched-on, is that the hold time should be at least 46 hours. The PACS team are delighted.

Despite the fact that the instruments were on for a significant fraction of the time, PACS' 3rd cooler recycling lasted 67h43m.

Today SPIRE has successfully launched a cooler recyling manually during the daily communications period.

2009-06-17

As seen from Herschel, @Planck will be a magnitude V=14.9 object in the constellation of Cetus, well south of the celestial equator.

At 00UT tonight Planck will be 201600km from Herschel (0.525 Lunar Distances) and receding at 130m/s.

Herschel is 1.0252AU from the Sun and receding at 222m/s. It remains in the constellation of Ophiuchus.

At 00UT tonight Herschel will be 1.469 million kilometres from Earth and receding at 115m/s. Signals now take 4.9 seconds to arrive.

The telescope mirrors are now at 102K and 106K respectively. Tomorrow will be dedicated to HIFI performance characterisation and to SPIRE.

The liquid helium tank is at 1.681K today, still cooling nicely. The cooler that it gets, the longer the helium will last.

Today has been dedicated to HIFI performance characterisation activities. Considerable progress has been made to ready the instrument.

So far 174 out of 284 commissioning activities have been executed: that is 61% of the total.

So many things are going on that it is getting hard to keep things completely up to date here. Sincere apologies for any delays in posting.

Herschel's aphelion will be at 21UT on July 2nd at 1.02606AU from the Sun, 29 hours before the Earth itself reaches aphelion.

At 00UT last night Herschel was 1.0250AU from the Sun and receding at 240m/s. Herschel remains in the constellation of Ophiuchus

Herschel will reach apogee at around 09:30UT on July 7th when it will be 1.576 million kilometres from Earth.

Last night, at 00UT, Herschel was 1.458 million kilometres from the Earth and receding at 122m/s.

2006-06-16

Thermal calculations are very difficult, but suggest a final temperature of the mirrors from 70-80K.

The two telescope mirrors have reached 105K and 109K respectively. Estimates of how cold they will get are very uncertain.

Herschel's helium tank is still cooling as temperatures stabilise. Today it is at 1.687K.

Herschel was 1.0249AU from the Sun and receding at 0.257m/s. It remains in the constellation of Ophiuchus.

Last night, at 00UT, Herschel was 1.448 million kilometres from Earth and receding at 130m/s.

The Herschel helium tank continues to cool and to stabilise. The temperature is now down to 1.692K.

As of yesterday, 54% of commissioning activities (153 of 284) have been completed.

Apologies for the lack of updates yesterday. Things have been getting very intense with many activities going on here. Things are going well

2006-06-14

Herschel will be 1.0247AU from the Sun and receding at 275m/s. It remains in the constellation of Ophiuchus, as seen from Earth.

At 00UT tonight Herschel will be 1.436 million kilometres from the Earth and receding at 138m/s. Signals now take 4.8 seconds to arrive.

By today, 147 of 284 (52%) of Herschel commissioning activities have been executed. The helium tank has now cooled to 1.699K.

The BBC have been very quick off the mark with a story on cryocover opening: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/...

Bill Latter: Such a simple sounding thing as opening a door is not at all a simple thing when done at a distance of 1.4 million kilometres!”

Bill Latter, NASA Herschel Science Center: “[This is] a critical milestone toward bringing Herschel online as a truly powerful observatory.”

Bill Latter, NASA Herschel Sci Center "The NHSC extends congratulations to all in the Herschel Project for the successful cryocover opening”

Right now HIFI is running some instrument tests. This is further detailed check-out of the HIFI systems.

Congratulations are due to everyone who has done such a fine job with Herschel. This has been another big day for the mission.

There are big celebrations at Mission Control and at the Instrument Control Centres. Cryocover opening has been another big step.

The latest SPIRE cyocooler hold time has been measured as 52 hours, beating the previous best of 47 hours. The cooler reached 287mK.

Measurements are on-going to confirm fully that the cover is open, although everything is consistent with success.

Various events were seen that indicate that the opening was successful, including a shaking of the spacecraft and a small temperature jump.

At about 10:45UT the command was given by the controllers to arm the two pyrotechnic devices on board. These were fired at 10:54UT.

Official! The Herschel cryocover is open.

SPIRE's cryo-cooler hold time is a satisfactory 47 hours. This has been increasing progressively as temperatures stabilise in the cryostat.

PACS reports (with a grin) that their final cooler hold time was a quite astonishing 70 hours! All instruments are reporting nominal status.

2009-06-13

Tonight at 00UT Herschel will be 1.0246AU from the Sun and still receding at 293m/s.

The command to fire the pyrotechnic bolts tomorrow 4.76 seconds to reach Herschel from the moment that the controller enters the command.

Tonight at 00UT Herschel will be 1.424 million kilometres from the Earth and receding at 147m/s.

Tomorrow at 13:12UT will mark exactly one month since Herschel was launched.

Herschel's helium tank is now at 1.706K. Tomorrow two small pyrotechnic charges will be fired to open the cryocover.

The two telescope mirrors continue to cool in the shadow of the sunshade. They are now at 115K and 120K respectively.

Up to today 147 of 284 (52%) of Herschel commissioning activities have been executed.

PACS are understandably delighted and astonished with their cooler hold time. Anything over 50 hours is a pretty amazing performance.

2009-06-12

Herschel will be 1.0244AU from the Sun and receding at 312m/s. As the Earth approaches aphelion this velocity will start to slow rapidly.

Herschel will be receding from Earth at 157m/s. It remains in the constellation of Ophiuchus, heading south-east.

At 00UT tonight Herschel will be 1.411 million kilometres from Earth (3.67 Lunar Distances) and signals will take 4.7 seconds to reach it.

We will find out tomorrow how long the hold time for the PACS cooler was in the end. After 59 hours it was still going strong.

If you are looking for a cool spot, the inside of Herschel's helium tank, currently at 1.71K, is a pretty good place to choose!

The two telescope mirrors are now at 119K and 125K respectively. They continue to cool rapidly now that decontamination has ended.

The PACS cooler was stable at 0.280K (280mK) and had a hold time of 59 hours, well above the minimum requirement of 2 days.

As of today 145 out of 284 (51%) of Herschel commissioning activities have been carried out.

Herschel is now 138 000km (0.359 Lunar Distances) from @Planck and receding at 113m/s. @Planck has magnitude V=14.6 as seen from Herschel.

Herschel is 1.0242AU from the Sun and receding at 331m/s. It remains in the constellation of Ophiuchus.

At 00UT last night Herschel was 1.396 million kilometres from Earth and receding at 168m/s. Signals now take 4.65 seconds to reach it.

2009-06-11

The Herschel helium tank continues to cool slightly as temperatures stabilise: it is now at 1.72K.

The mirrors continue to cool rapidly in the shadow of Herschel's giant sunshade. They are now at 123K and 130K respectively.

We have now passed 50% of commissioning activities being executed. As of today, 145 out of 284 (51%) have been executed.

A new Herschel Operations Blog entrey: http://bit.ly/82ioM . A critical moment... cryocover opening!

A new Herschel Openerations Blog posting: http://bit.ly/txVxz . Where is Herschel and where is it going?

Closing the large helium vent nozzle: another major Herschel milestone... http://bit.ly/5Yy7A

On June 1st @Planck was magnitude 19.1. Even after this week's Full Moon it will be tough to observe from Earth against the Milky Way.

No observations of Herschel have been reported by amateur astronomers since the night of May 31st when Herschel was magnitude 18.7.

Today's communication period with Herschel begins at 09:53:01UT and lasts until 14:53:01UT.

2009-06-10

Herschel is now 1.0240AU from the Sun and receding at 351m/s. It remains in the constellation of Ophiuchus.

At 00UT tonight Herschel will be 1.381 million kilometres from Earth and receding at 180m/s. Signals now take 4.6s to reach it

The inside of Herschel's helium tank is at a balmy 1.73K. It should cool still further as temperatures stabilise.

The temperatures of the two telescope mirrors have already fallen to 128 & 136K respectively. The cooling is proceeding extremely well.

So far 49.6% (41 out of 284) commissioning activities have been executed.

Today Herschel had a 3min. Delta-V manoeuvre starting at 13:29UT. The measured change in velocity was 0.74m/s, 0.02m/s more than planned.

How does the Herschel cryocover open? SPIRE has the answer! http://herschel.cf.ac.uk/ti... (thanks to SPIRE PI, Matt Griffin)

PACS has now delivered the observations that they plan to carry out on Sunday.

PACS reports that their Full Functional Test was carried out yesterday. They are working on analysing the data now.

Radiation, sunspots and Herschel. New Herschel Operations Blog entry: http://bit.ly/7XQVC

2009-06-09

Herschel is now 1.0238AU from the Sun and receding at 370km/s. It is about 6 degrees north of the magnitude 4.6 star, 20 Ophiuchi.

Att 00TU tonight, Herschel will be 1.415 million kilometres from Earth and receding at 192m/s (691km/h). Signals take 4.5s to reach it.

The new Herschel orbit file in Horizons (http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/hor...) includes the latest mid-course trajectory correction.

H20090608_0001 is now the active Herschel trajectory in JPL's Horizons. Since launch, Herschel ephemerides have been requested 394 times.

Sunspots and Herschel: http://bit.ly/7XQVC . A new Herschel Operations Blog entry.

Today the observations for Day 28 and the start of Day 29 were transmitted successfully to Herschel.

Up to today, 48% (137 out of 284) commissioning activities have been carried out. Today SPIRE spectrometer and PACS tests have been done.

SPIRE's cooler is reaching a temperature of 287mK when it is re-cycled. It will get even colder as we approach operational temperature.

Today's communication period wih New Norcia (Perth) will start at 10:26:01UT and last for 5 hours

Over the last week commissioning has proceeded so successfully that not a single anomally has been raised on the spacecraft.

2009-06-08

Herschel is now about 5.5º south of the magnitude 5.7 star, 14 Ophiuchi.

Herschel is 1.0236AU from the Sun and receding at 391m/s. Today a small orbit correction manoeuvre was carried out.

At 00UT tonight Herschel will be 1.348 million km from Earth and receding at 206m/s. Signals now take 4.5s to arrive from Earth.

The mirror temperatures are now dropping steadily with the heaters off and the telescope in shadow. How cold will they get? We will see soon

3 SPIRE tests and 1 PACS test are scheduled to be completed in the next day.

Up to today, 133 out of 284 (47%) of Herschel commissioning activities have been completed successfully.

First SPIRE interferogram. New entry in the HSC Operations Blog: http://bit.ly/bhmSY

HIFI is transferring a staggering 22Gb of raw and processed data from Herschel every day.

SPIRE will carry out its first pointing observations today.

PACS will do a full functional test today, plus their first cooler re-cycling.

HSC takes over pointing responsibility for Herschel. New HSC operations Blog entry: http://bit.ly/bhmSY

2009-06-07

Herschel is now 1.0233AU from the Sun and receding at 411m/s. It remains in the constellation of Ophiuchus.

Tonight at 00UT Herschel will be 1.330 million kilometres from Earth and receding at 220m/s. Signals now take 4.4 seconds to reach Herschel.

As of today 130 of 284 (45%) of Herschel check-out activities have been completed. All continues to go very well with commissioning.

Part of the Herschel communications window today was ceded to @Planck to allowing additional monitoring of their long manoeuvre.

Contact with the spacecraft will start in about 15 minutes, at 10:30UT and will last for 5 hours.

Everyone is reporting nominal status of spacecraft, instruments and systems. We continue working steadily through the check-out of systems.

Herschel image of the Day http://bit.ly/a5G7z . Who controls Mission Planning?