HerMES: 500 Micron Extragalactic Source Catalog from Herschel

A 380 square degree survey conducted by the Herschel Space Observatory's SPIRE instrument at 250, 350, and 500 microns. The HerMES legacy program maps nested fields to capture redshifted thermal emission from interstellar dust, tracing obscured star formation. The data was produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Identify high-redshift galaxies based on far-infrared spectral energy distributions.
• Study the relationship between dust-obscured and unobscured star formation in galaxies.
• Model galaxy spectral energy distributions using multi-wavelength data from 250 to 500 microns.
• Analyze the spatial distribution of star-forming regions in extragalactic fields.

Strengths

• Covers a total survey area of 380 square degrees across nested fields.
• Provides observations in three specific far-infrared bands (250, 350, 500 microns) critical for detecting dust emission.
• Produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, a recognized space science authority.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for specific analyses.
• Data is provided in a BIN file format, which may require specialized tools for access and processing.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Observations from the SPIRE instrument on the Herschel Space Observatory as part of the HerMES legacy program.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 17:21:20.633717; freshness should be verified.