Jun 09, 2021
An international team led by several researchers from LFEMI/DAp/CEA has just published a study shedding light on the formation mechanisms of interstellar grains in galaxies. This is one of the key results of the European DustPedia collaboration, which brings together some thirty people from six laboratories: the DAp at CEA-Saclay, the IAS at Orsay, the University of Ghent, the University of Cardiff, the Observatory of Florence and the Observatory of Athens.
Dec 04, 2019
The hot heart of the SN 1987A supernova
An international team, led by astronomers from Cardiff University, with the contribution of the Astrophysics Department of CEA-Irfu, may have spotted for the first time the compact remains of the last star explosion visible by eye that occurred on February 23, 1987 in a nearby galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, only 160 000 light-years away.
Nov 26, 2019
Dense molecular filaments are the cradles of stars
An international team led by the Astrophysics Department-AIM Laboratory of CEA-Irfu has just obtained new clues about the origin of star mass distribution, combining observational data from the large interferometer ALMA and the APEX radio telescope operated by the European Austral Observatory (ESO) and the Herschel Space Observatory.
Jun 06, 2016
Star formation in the filamentary Aquila and Taurus molecular clouds
Based on observations of nearby molecular clouds with the Herschel space observatory, recently large samples of future stars were detected in the form of dense cores. The properties of these compact seeds and their connection with interstellar filaments reveal us the earliest key stages of stars and the way of low-mass star formation.
Among several cloud complexes along the Gould Belt (see image below) the Aquila and Taurus regions were targeted.
Nov 05, 2010
An international team of astronomers, including several French researchers, has just completed a precise measurement of the distance to five distant galaxies using the ESA Herschel Space Observatory together with ground-based data from the interferometer operated by the Institute for Millimetric Radioastronomy (IRAM)1 . The research team has shown that the light from these galaxies has travelled for around ten thousand million years before reaching Earth.
May 20, 2010
Promising scientific results for the largest space telescope
One year on from the launch of the Herschel European satellite, the European Space Agency (ESA) is carrying out an initial scientific assessment of the mission, starting with the first symposium of Herschel scientific results, held from 4th to 7th May on the ESTEC site in Noordwijk (Netherlands).The scientific community has been analyzing the initial data received since Herschel was declared 'science-ready' in September 2009.
Jan 01, 2010
SpacewireCEA: new computer software for transferring images from space
The Space Electronics Laboratory (LEDES) of the (CEA-IRFU) Astrophysics Division has recently signed a partnership agreement with the industrial company Skylab Industries to manufacture and distribute space equipment including the computer software known as "SpacewireCEA" which was initially developed at the CEA for the PACS infrared camera on the Herschel satellite. This software, which is integrated into the on-board electronics, is able to transfer observational data at a high rate from the space instruments.
