Herschel and Planck, two new satellites, were successfully launched by ESA today.
Herschel has a 3.5m mirror - the largest mirror ever launched into space - and is an infra-red mission to look at stars and galaxies.
Planck will be taking measurements to map out the cosmic microwave background, in order to understand more about cosmology and the big-bang.
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Photo:
the Ariane 5 launcher before the launch, on 13 May 2009, enclosing Herschel and Planck and the International Year of Astronomy motto: "The Universe, Yours to Discover" (credit: ESA)