HerMES: Infrared Survey of Star-Forming Galaxies

A legacy programme mapping 380 square degrees of sky using the Herschel Space Observatory's SPIRE instrument. The survey captures the redshifted thermal emission from interstellar dust at 250, 350, and 500 microns, which traces obscured star formation. Data was produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Modeling galaxy spectral energy distributions based on far-infrared photometry.
• Studying the correlation between dust-obscured and unobscured star formation rates.
• Identifying high-redshift galaxies based on their far-infrared emission.
• Analyzing the multiwavelength properties of galaxies to understand formation and evolution.

Strengths

• Covers a large survey area of 380 square degrees.
• Provides data from three specific far-infrared wavelengths (250, 350, and 500 microns).
• Produced by the authoritative National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Limitations

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

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Observations from the Herschel Space Observatory's SPIRE instrument.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 19:12:19.721670; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Observations of nested fields in the sky.