Launched on November 17th 1995, ESA's Infrared Space Observatory [ISO] has uncovered stars, galaxies and black holes that astronomers have been unable to see before. It has also revealed water vapour, primarily around Titan - this will have implications for ESA's Huygens mission to this moon.
ISO has also given a clearer picture of the formation of celestial bodies.
Although the ISO project was initially projected to operate for 18 months - thus ending in May 1997 - it has continued for almost a year longer. Activity concerning ISO will continue at ESA's Villafranca ground station in Spain until the year 2001, long after completion of the observational phase of the mission.
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10:00:00:00 Hubble Space Telescope [HST] image - the Horse Head Nebula seen using visible light
10:00:18:00 Infrared Space Observatory [ISO] image - new stars never seen before seen using infrared light
10:02:48:00 animation - gvs' of ISO in motion
10:05:24:00 animation - Huygens landing sequence
10:07:49:00 Titan seen using visible light
10:08:05:00 water vapour detected on Titan by ISO's short wavelength spectrometer, illustrated in varying degrees
10:08:43:00 HST images - distant galaxies, seen using visible light
10:09:03:00 ISO images - star making factories, seen using infrared light
10:09:30:00 gvs' ESA's Villafranca ground station
10:10:28:00 gvs' control room of ESA's Villafranca ground station
10:10:42:00 ms' ISO results on screen
10:11:11:00 gvs' ISO results downloaded and stored onto CD ROM's
10:12:35:00 end