Water in the Cosmos - Ocean Worlds: The Story of Seas on Earth and Other Planets - page 6

averse to controversy that he survived all the turmoil of the
revolutionary years in France, being awarded honours and distinc-
tions by Louis XVI; then, after Louis succumbed to Madame
Guillotine, by the revolutionary government; and then, for good
measure, by Napoleon Bonaparte.
This curious object is one of the great triumphs of modern astro-
nomical research. It is the Herschel Space Observatory (Fig. 1), planned
and built by the European Space Agency over 30 years, and launched
in May 2009. It was destined to be operational for only three years, for
the delicate instruments were cooled to just above absolute zero by a
small supply of superfluid helium which could not be replaced (so far
out in space, no one can make repairs or carry out maintenance).
Nevertheless, with a single mirror 3.5 metres across, larger than that
of the Hubble Space Telescope, the far-seeing eye of Herschel provided
scientists with enough data to occupy them for many years. 7 It finally
ran out of its liquid helium supply in 2013.
The singular Herschel Space Observatory was named after two
Herschels: brother and sister. There was Sir William Herschel, a
German-born musician and soldier who took refuge in England after
he was on the losing side of a battle in the Seven Years War. He adapted
quickly, in society and professionally. A virtuoso of oboe, violin, and
harpsichord, he became director of the Bath Orchestra. His profi-
ciency in music led to an interest in mathematics and, encouraged by
his friend Nevil Maskelyne, the Astronomer Royal, in lenses and
telescopes. Assiduous in astronomy as in music, he built some of the
best reflecting telescopes of his day, including the '40 foot' telescope
used to locate Enceladus, the icy moon of Saturn (see Chapter 9). He
discovered Uranus and binary star systems, and compiled extensive
catalogues of 'nebulae' (galaxies, although they were not recognized
as such then) and of star systems.