The Herschel Space Observatory was a space observatory built and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA). It was active from 2009 to 2013, and was the largest infrared telescope ever launched, carrying a single 3.5-metre (11.5 ft) mirror and instruments sensitive to the far infrared and submillimetre wavebands (55–672 µm). Herschel was the fourth and final cornerstone mission in the Horizon 2000 programme, following SOHO/Cluster II, XMM-Newton and Rosetta. Astronomers (including astronomers from the Copernicus Astronomical Center) are still analyzing data collected with Herschel Telescope. More information on the Herschel pages.
In 2002 the orbiting gamma-ray laboratory known as INTEGRAL was launched. It is expected that its observational data will help answer many important questions regarding gamma ray bursts, active galactic nuceli, supernovae and the properties of the interstellar medium. Astronomers from the N. Copernicus Astronomical Centre and the Space Research Centre are involved in the mission. More on the INTEGRAL pages.
The project has to main goals: (1) to detect circumbinary planets around a sample of up to 350 eclipsing binary stars using eclipse timing and precision radial velocities.(2) to characterize the binary stars with an unprecedented precision to test the stellar structure and evolution models.
In order to achieve these goals a global network of four 0.5-meter robotic telescopes (Australia, Africa, South America) has been constructed, to collect high precision, high cadence light curves of the binaries.
The first telescope was constructed thanks to the "FOCUS" grant (170 kEuro) from the Foundation for Polish Science, the additional three telescopes and the overall costs of the project for the 5 years has been covered from the highly competitive and prestigious "Ideas" Starting Grant of the European Research Council (1.5 mln Euro).
The Cluster AgeS Experiment (CASE) is a long term project aiming at determination of accurate ages and distances of nearby globular clusters (GC) by using observations of detached eclipsing binaries. The project consists of two parts. The first part is an extensive photometric survey of about 10 Galactic GCs with the aim of identifying eclipsing binaries (EB) located near or below the main-sequence turnoff (MSTO). The survey is conducted on the 1.0-m Swope telescope at Las Campanas Observatory. The second part of the project is devoted to determination of absolute parameters (masses, radii, ages and luminosities) of selected EBs. It includes derivation of precise radial velocity curves as well as photometric follow up observations in the optical and near IR domain. More on the CASE pages.
The Gaia-ESO Survey is an ambitious spectroscopic survey that is observing more than 100000 Galactic stars. Spectra of medium- and high-resolution are being collected with the FLAMES multi-fiber spectrograph of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), at the 8 meters Very Large Telescope (VLT), in Cerro Paranal, Chile.
The Survey is observing stars in all components of the Milky Way (the thin and thick disks, the bulge, and the halo), and in 80 open clusters of different ages and metallicities. The targets include stars of several spectral types (from O- to M-type) and in distinct stages of their evolution (giants, dwarfs, and pre-main-sequence stars).
The goal is to provide a large overview of the kinematics and chemical composition of stars in the Galaxy. This is an important information to understand the history of formation and evolution of the Milky Way. In addition, studying the open cluster stars will contribute to improve our understanding of stellar evolution from the pre-main sequence to the red giant stage.
