The Ghost in the Telescope: The Story of the Herschel Space Observatory

The Ghost in the Telescope is an insider's account of the Herschel Space Observatory, which was launched to answer two of the biggest questions in astronomy: How were the stars and galaxies born?

Written in an engaging manner for a general audience, this book tells the stories of the telescope itself, the discoveries it made, and the engineers and astronomers who built and used it.

This book, based on the author's own experience and interviews with the key astronomers and engineers, tells the story of the mission, from its original concept on a piece of paper in Venice to the moment after the end of the mission when the engineers had to decide whether to crash the spacecraft into the Moon. This book describes all the major discoveries made with the telescope and also gives an account, accessible to anyone without previous scientific knowledge, of the latest research into the births of stars and galaxies.

This book may interest anyone who is curious about astronomy, space missions, and how astronomy is done in practice. It is designed for a general audience and does not require any previous scientific background.

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Release date

Audiobook: 24 February 2026