SPIRE parallel mode observation from performance verification phase

Date: 02 Oct 2009
Satellite: Herschel
Copyright: ESA and the SPIRE consortium
The image above, taken with the SPIRE instrument, is of a 2 x 2 degree field in an area near the Galactic Plane, 60 degrees from the Galactic Centre, in the constellation of the Southern Cross. This region is considered to be a good test case for verification and demonstration purposes as it is typical of crowded fields where there may be many molecular clouds along the line-of-sight. The image shown here was obtained on 3 September 2009 and is based on just over 6 hours of observations.
This SPIRE image was constructed by colour-coding the different observing wavelengths, and creating a composite false-colour image: here blue denotes 250 µm, green 350 µm, and red 500 µm emission.
Last Update: 02 Oct 2009