You are in Observatory Level 2 content

Here you will find more detailed and more technical general observatory documentation that will give you deeper insight into the mission, its data and data products and its operation. If you are looking for even more detailed, technical or historical documentation on a specific topic and do not find it here, you should look in Observatory Level 3.

For information about individual instruments, look at the dedicated instrument pages.

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Observatory Data Products Overview Documents

Spacecraft and Mission Overview Documents

Performance and Calibration Documents

Data Processing Documents

Observatory Data Products Overview

• Product Definition Supplement (2017)
• The Herschel Legacy Archive (2016)
• The Footprint Database and Web Services of the Herschel Space Observatory (2016)
• Quality Control Report Product Definition (2007)

Highly Processed Data Products

• HPDP Release Note: PACS-P Point Source Catalogue (2017)
• HPDP Release Note: SPIRE-Photometer Point Source Catalogue; Catalogue ReadMe; Link to Data (2017)
• HPDP Release Note: The Herschel-PACS Solar System Object Observations Comet Catalogue (2018)
• HPDP Release Note: Herschel Solar System Object Observation Catalogue (Coming Soon)

Ancillary Data Products

• ADP Release Note: Herschel Calibrator Models: PLANETS; Link to Data (2017)
• ADP Release Note: Herschel Calibrator Models: STARS; Link to Data (2016)
• ADP Release Note: Herschel Calibrator Models: ASTEROIDS; Link to Data  (2017)
• ADP Release Note: Herschel Instrument Calibration Files; Link to Data (2016)
• ADP Release Note: Herschel Operational Data (2017)

Spacecraft and Mission Overview

Spacecraft Overview

• Inventing a Space Mission: The Story of the Herschel Space Observatory. (2017)
• Spacecraft model. Basic interactive 3-D spacecraft viewer in Flash. (2009)

Spacecraft and systems

Cryostat

• Welding qualification, and realisation for Herschel tanks and cryostat (2005)

Sensors

• Cryostat CCU sensor locations (2009)
• Spacecraft CCU sensor locations  (2009)

SREM

• SREM presentation (undated)
• The ESA standard radiation environment monitor program first results from PROBA-I and INTEGRAL (2003)

Startrackers

• The Officine Galileo Autonomous Star Tracker (undated)

Telescope

• A F 3.5 M SiC telescope for HERSCHEL Mission (2003)
• The Herschel and Planck Space Telescopes (2009)

Thrusters

• The Herschel EADS CHT20 hydrazine thruster (undated)

VMC

• From Monitoring Camera to Mars Webcam – Producing Outreach from Ops (2008)

Orbit and Operations:

Operations

• Herschel/Planck Mission Implementation Plan (2003)
• ESA Operations: Tracking Network Ground stations (2016)
• Turning requirements into operations - Herschel/Planck ACMS Database Experience (2007)
• ESTRACK: ESA's Deep-Space Tracking Network (2012)

Low Earth Orbit

• Herschel separation from the Sylda (GIF video) (2009)

Operational orbit and Herschel constellation orbits

• JPL Horizons ephemeris generator (2009)
• Sylda astrometry and orbit solution (2013)
• Ariane upper stage. Booster astrometry and orbit solution (2013)
• HPO4 astrometry and orbit solution (2009)
• HP05 astrometry and orbit solution (2013)

Spacecraft final disposal:

• Spacecraft disposal options (2012)
• MOC post-helium tests and spacecraft disposal plan (2013)
• Herschel disposal orbit from ground-based astrometry (2013)

Performance and Calibration:

Calibration & cross-calibration

• Experimental Astronomy Herschel Calibration special volume (2014)
• Herschel Calibration Workshop #1: presentations (2004)
• Herschel Calibration Workshop #2: presentations (2008)
• Herschel Calibration Workshop #3: presentations (2010)
• Herschel Calibration Workshop #4: presentations (2012)
• Herschel Calibration Workshop #5: presentations (2013)
• Herschel Cross-Calibration Report (2012)
• Herschel Spectroscopy Cross-Calibration (2011)
• Herschel Spectrometer Cross-Calibration Update (2012)

Pointing

• Astrometry correction for observations affected by a thermoelastic drift (2017)
• STR switch-overs and SVV re-sets (2013)
• Herschel Pointing Performance (current and past) (2012)
• Determination of the telescope nodding reproducibility of the OD 858 pointing programme after the ACMS/STR two-dimensional focal length parameter update (2011)
• A check for timing shifts of PACS photometer data vs. pointing product (2012)
• Relative pointing offset analysis of calibration targets with repeated observations with Herschel-SPIRE Fourier-transform spectrometer (2014)
• SIAM record and access to SIAM files (2016)

Straylight

• Herschel out-of-field stray-light characterization (2014)
• Herschel stray light report (2011)
• Herschel out-of-field simulations with ASAP (2009)

Confusion

• The Herschel Confusion Noise Estimator Requirements (2006)
• The Herschel Confusion Noise Estimator (2007)
• HerMES: deep number counts at 250 µm, 350 µm and 500 µm in the COSMOS and GOODS-N fields and the build-up of the cosmic infrared background (2012)
• The deepest Herschel-PACS far-infrared survey: number counts and infrared luminosity functions from combined PEP/GOODS-H observations (2013)
• Extragalactic number counts at 100 µm, free from cosmic variance (2013)

Cryostat and helium lifetime

• Herschel Lifetime Estimate from Cooler Re-Cycling (2011)
• Ullage-corrected DLCM results and their uncertainties (2011)
• August 2012 End-of-Helium estimate: prediction based on PACS analysis up to OD 1159 (2012)

Environment & Space weather

• Impacts of The Radiation Environment At L2 On Bolometers Onboard The Herschel Space Observatory (2012)
• Space Environment Overview 1983-2012 (2012)
• Full Herschel SREM Proton Flux (2013)
• Weekly Quick-look SREM proton flux (2009-2013)

SVM Performance

• Herschel and Planck Power Subsystem In-Flight Behaviour (2011)
• PHOTOVOLTAIC ASSEMBLY IN-FLIGHT BEHAVIOUR (2013)
• HERSCHEL/PLANCK Star Tracker Performance Assessment and Calibration (2013)
• Herschel Post Helium Report (2014)

Telescope

• Cryogenic Far- Infrared Laser Absorptivity Measurements of the Herschel Space Observatory Telescope Mirror Coatings (2004)
• Herschel SPIRE FTS telescope model correction (2014)
• What happened in ObsID 0x50002C6B? (2010)
• Update on event in ObsID 0x50002C6B (2010)

Software

• Herschel Inspector and Long-term Scheduler (HILTS) (2010)
• HSpot 8.0 download (2017) - Virtual machine. Should work on any OS/Platform combination.
• Virtual HSpot 8.0 Quick Start Guide (2017)
• HSpot 7.0 download (2013) - Valid for Windows 7 and earlier and for older Linux and Mac OS machines only. [This link has been deprecated: use the HSpot 8.0 Virtual Machine instead]
• Classic HSpot 7.0 Quick Start Guide (2017)
• HSpot Users' Guide (2017)
• HIPE 15.0.1 download (2017) - Virtual machine. Should work on any OS/Platform combination.

Data Processing Workshops and Webinar Resources

HSC Workshops

• Data Processing Workshop (2015)
• Data Processing Workshop (2014)
• On-Line Spectroscopy Workshop (2014)
• Data Processing Workshop (2013)
• Data Processing Workshop (2012)
• OT1 Data Processing Workshop (2011)

NHSC Workshops and Webinars

• NHSC Workshops and Webinars (2015)

Data Processing Overview

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About HELL

• Preserving Herschel Knowledge with Legacy Documentation - the HELL library for Herschel   (2017)