Herschel Space Telescope sheds new light on galaxy evolution
Research report (imported) 2010 - Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics
Summary
The new space telescope Herschel of the European Space Agency ESA, with its MPE-provided instrument PACS on board, enables photometric and spectroscopic observations in the far infrared. Photometric surveys with this facility have now shown that the rapid formation of stars in galaxies in the early Universe took place in a qualitatively different mode than in the more recent past. Furthermore, spectroscopic studies showed, for the first time, in a quantitative way how supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies could terminate the formation of new stars.