PACS Home Page

PACS Science

PACS HOME - PACS SCIENCE - INSTRUMENTS - OBSERVER SUPPORT
+ - General Information
- Overview
- Industrial Partners & Funding Agencies
- PACS Consortium
- Instrument Control & Centre
- Science with PACS
+ - Observatory & Instruments
- Overview
- Photometer
- Spectrometer
- Observing Modes of the PACS Instrument
- AOT's
+ - Observer Support
- Tools
- Documents
- Data Archives & Analysis
+ - IAC contribution to HERSCHEL-PACS
+ - Picture Gallery
- Relevant documents
- Infrared Astronomy
- Additional Links
- Contact
The opening of the 60-210 µm window by PACS to sensitive photometry and spectro-scopy at high spatial resolution will address a wide range of key questions of current astrophysics concerning the
See these examples

(credit:MPE)

The Herschel Mission

The Far Infrared and Submillimetre Telescope FIRST is ESA's cornerstone mission designed to study the universe in a largely unexplored wavelength regime, with an launch year 2008. A passively cooled 3.5m telescope provides the opportunity for high spatial resolution, sensitive observations over the range from 60 to 670 microns. Main scientic drivers of the FIRST mission include Investigations of the distant universe, studying the history of star formation and activity in galaxies through extensive surveys and dedicated follow-up observations. Studies of the origins of stars through photometric and spectroscopic surveys of star forming regions and pre-stellar condensations. Physics and chemistry of the interstellar medium. Solar system studies. The instrument complement selected for FIRST to achieve these goals includes a 60-210 microns cam- era/spectrometer (PACS), a 200-670 microns camera/low resolution spectrometer (SPIRE) and a hetero- dyne high resolution spectrometer (HIFI).


PACS
The basic concept of PACS is to provide
  • Ecient imaging and photometry in several wavelength bands within the 60-210 microns range, fully exploiting the telescope's imaging performance.
  • Spectroscopy and spectroscopic mapping, with the possibility to cover at spectral resolution about 1000 to 2000 the entire 60-210 microns wavelength range or short segments.

Scientic goals
  • Extragalactic surveys: Galaxy formation in the early universe
    • Galaxies
      • Star formation and the interstellar medium
        • Stars
          • Solar system objects
- Get the Science Requirements Document and observing modes
PACS is also intended to be an important driver for other projects which will explore adjacent spectral regions, such as JWST in the near/mid IR and ALMA in the mm domain.

Credits

The contents of this page are based on the Science Requirements Document and the official home page for PACS edited by Eckhard Sturm

Go back to PACS Instrument page

PACS HOME - PACS SCIENCE - INSTRUMENTS - OBSERVER SUPPORT

sigroth@iac.es
http://research.iac.es/proyecto/herschel/pacs
This file was last modified on 21 May 2007.