Europe is, in astronomy the lead ahead of the USA to take over because the ESA wants middle of the month to start a company, which is unprecedented. On the European space launch site in Kourou in French Guiana, the record-breaking space telescopes "Planck" and "Herschel" start.

Golden future of astronomy: With the super telescope "Herschel" and the high-tech satellite "Planck" Europe wants the big questions after the beginning of the world, or the formation of stars and planets to answer.

The claim of the European company is so large that when the Americans stoking fears that the role as a major power in space to lose. Named after two astronomers and physicists, starting on 16 May, the two European sky telescopes "Herschel and Planck" into space. The two devices, the peak for the human eye and for "normal" light telescopes invisible infrared-(IR-) radiation of cosmic objects measured and far-reaching new insights about origins and evolution of the universe possible.

The strongest thrust version of the European Ariane rocket, an Ariane-5 ECA, will not only after the German-English astronomer William Herschel (1738-1822) named the largest space telescope in the world with a mirror diameter of 3.5 meters into space wear. The now almost 20 years old, extremely successful American "Hubble" telescope has compared to only a 2.4 meter mirror. The Ariane is also a lot more in the name of the German Physics Nobel Prize winner Max Planck (1858-1947) baptized, 1.5-meter telescope in space take.

"Planck" will be in a position to take the temperature of the background radiation of space to a few millionths of degrees Celsius to accurately measure and therefore important new insights about the Big Bang (Big Bang) and the subsequent evolution of the universe to deliver.

The ESA sets in the upcoming spectacular double save from company now based everything on one card and can be very costly, the two telescopes - "Herschel" fails with a billion euros to Beech, "Planck" with 600 million euros - with a single rocket launch. "Herschel" will be 26 minutes after the launch of the Ariane upper stage to solve, "Planck" two and a half minutes later. Would instead start each telescope separately, would help the financially tight Esa over 100 million additional cost.

The nerve of the parties are, therefore, somewhat tense. "We are all very nervous before the start," admits Professor George Efstathiou of the "Planck" scientists team, "because now the expected new findings will allow us to theories about the Big Bang to verify. They could further our understanding of the origin and evolution of our universe, and even completely change its development can be predicted. "

These amazing benefits is "Planck" by extremely precise measurements of the so-called cosmic background radiation allow a remnant of that radiation, which nearly 14 billion years after the Big Bang has been set free. The background radiation is in the entire universe is almost uniform, but has minimal local temperature variations, known as anisotropies, (see box). These irregularities, however, allow references to current, past and future distributions of mass in the universe. Scientists get their observation by new information about the Big Bang, the events during the early days of the cosmos, its structure and its further development.

For the planned measurements of the detectors must be "Planck" However, using a cooling system is extremely complex, to below minus 253 degrees Celsius, down, as many in the infrared radiant objects are so cold. Were they measuring with warmer investigate this would be as if you have a weak prior to the shimmering star full midday sun tried to watch. The 4.20 meter high and wide, 1.9-ton telescope is the background radiation in nine spectral ranges field, the microwave field to the far infrared range.