![](\"http:\/\/www.esa.int\/var\/esa\/storage\/images\/esa_multimedia\/videos\/2013\/11\/herschel_s_37_000_science_observations\/13418270-1-eng-GB\/Herschel_s_37_000_science_observations_small.png\")
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\nThis animation shows the timeline of over 37 000 scientific observations made by ESA\u2019s Herschel space observatory throughout its entire mission, condensed into less than a minute.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe animation was prepared by Pedro G\u00f3mez-Alvarez in the Herschel Science Centre and presented by Herschel\u2019s Project Scientist G\u00f6ran Pilbratt during the opening session of The Universe Explored by Herschel<\/a> symposium held at ESA\u2019s ESTEC facility, in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, last month.\n<\/p>\n \nThe animation runs from launch, on 14 May 2009, until the infrared observatory made its last observation on 29 April 2013.\n<\/p>\n \nRunning through the centre of the graphic is the \u2018ecliptic plane\u2019 tracing the paths of the planets with respect to Herschel\u2019s viewpoint from its orbit around L2, which is located 1.5 million kilometres behind the Earth as viewed from the Sun.\n<\/p>\n \nA horseshoe shape marks the Galactic Plane, the direction in which much of the Milky Way\u2019s mass lies, and where many of Herschel\u2019s observations were focused.\n<\/p>\n \nIn total, Herschel observed almost a tenth of the entire sky for over 23 500 hours, providing new views into the previously hidden Universe, pointing to unseen star birth and galaxy formation, and tracing water through the Universe from molecular clouds to newborn stars and to their planet-forming discs and belts of comets.\n<\/p>\n \nIts two camera\/imaging spectrometers, PACS (Photoconductor Array Camera and Spectrometer) and SPIRE (Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver), which together covered wavelengths of 55\u2013670 microns, provided about two thirds of Herschel\u2019s sky coverage in parallel imaging mode. These data points are shown in yellow.\n<\/p>\n \nPACS and SPIRE photometry observations are indicated in blue and green, which together with spectroscopy performed with PACS, SPIRE and the third science instrument, HIFI (Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared, covering wavelength bands of 157\u2013212 microns and 240\u2013625 microns) make up the remainder.\n<\/p>\n \nSince 29 October 2013, when the last observed data went public, all of the Herschel data are available to the worldwide astronomical community. The vast data archive<\/a> will become the scientific legacy of the mission, destined to yield far more discoveries than have been made over the mission lifetime so far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \t\t\t\t\t \nThis animation shows the timeline of over 37 000 scientific observations made by ESA\u2019s Herschel space observatory throughout its entire mission, condensed into less than a minute.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n