Planck and Herschel separate
Date: 15 May 2009
Satellite: Herschel and Planck
Depicts: SYLDA 5 separation imaged by Herschel's on-board VMC
Copyright: ESA
Animation of images taken by Herschel's Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) shortly after separation from the Planck-SYLDA 5 composite at 13:38 UT on 14 May 2009. The images show the composite receding behind Herschel, with Planck encapsulated in the SYLDA 5; Earth's surface is in the background. The two satellites were travelling at about 10 kms-1, 1150 km above the East coast of Africa at the time of separation.
Within 2 minutes of Herschel's separation, the SYLDA 5 was jettisoned and shortly after at 13:40 UT Planck also separated from the upper cryogenic stage (the last stage of the launcher, just visible underneath the SYLDA 5 in the last frame of this animation).
ESA's infrared observatory Herschel and Planck, the Agency's mission to study the Cosmic Microwave Background, lifted off together on an Ariane 5 at 13:12:02 UTC from ESA's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
