SPIRE image of galaxy
Imperial physicists take first peek into dusty galaxies with Herschel space telescope. First images from SPIRE 'camera' released %0A " - By Danielle Reeves - Friday 10 July 2009 The UK-led SPIRE 'camera' on the Herschel space telescope has taken its first test images of two galaxies in the constellations of Pisces and Leo, with spectacular results. The images were processed at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory by a small team including two Imperial physics researchers. Imperial's physicists played a key role in conceiving, designing and developing the SPIRE instrument over the last 20 years, and more recently have been instrumental in developing the software to convert masses of raw data from space into the pictures released by the European Space Agency today. These provide a never-before-seen insight into the cold dusty regions of galaxies, where stars are formed. Over the next 3 years Imperial physicists will study images like these from Herschel to further their understanding of some of the most fundamental processes in the Universe. Dr Dave Clements from the Department of Physics, who leads Imperial's Herschel team, explains the significance of these initial images: "These first test observations are fantastic - they provide by far the clearest images ever at these long wavelengths, showing the cold dusty parts of these two nearby galaxies in great detail.
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