Herschel's cryostat approach to cooling was evolved from a previous Esa mission - the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO), which operated in the 1990s.

BBC: Herschel space telescope finishes mission

Many Americans recognize the unsurpassed science and inspiration that have come from the Hubble Space Telescope over the past two decades, as well as from its less famous sister satellites like the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Spitzer Space (Infrared) Telescope and the Fermi gamma-ray observatory.

CNN: Space is still the new frontier

The US space agency observatory is well suited to picking up the infrared signal expected from cold grains of dust about 10 microns (millionths of a metre) in size.

BBC: New ring detected around Saturn