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Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE)

SPIRE will investigate galaxy and cosmic structure formation in the early Universe. It will study the earliest stages of star formation that results from the fragmentation and collapse of dense interstellar cloud cores. These huge clouds of dust absorb the ultraviolet light emitted by the stars near them. The heated dust then cools by radiating at infrared wavelengths. To understand all the processes occurring in a galaxy, astronomers need to measure the total energy emitted at all wavelengths.

How it works

Since most of the light the early galaxies emit can only be detected at the far-infrared part of the spectrum, SPIRE will make spectral and photometric observations at far-infrared and sub-millimetre wavelengths. It will also measure the flux of the infrared light emitted in several wavelength bands and make large-scale surveys of the sky at a high angular resolution. With this information, scientists will learn more about the spectral energy distribution of stars and galaxies and about how they formed.

Canada is contributing data analysis software, personnel for the test teams and a Fourier Transform Spectrometer to test instrument models. Canadian scientists will also participate in the SPIRE Instrument Control Centre. The University of Lethbridge is writing software to allow researchers to process the enormous amount of data collected during observations, and transform the raw data into meaningful results such as images and spectra.

The Principal Investigator for SPIRE in Canada is Professor David Naylor at the University of Lethbridge. For more information on SPIRE, visit the Herschel-SPIRE web site at the University of Lethbridge.