The nerdiest darn telescopes this side of Alpha Centauri.
A pair of space-faring telescopes will be launched later in the month to observe the leftover signs of the origins of the Universe, also known as the Big Bang.
While sending more objects into orbit might eventually become a silly idea, right now it's the best way we have to see an unfettered view of the night sky without an atmosphere to warp or distort our vision.
One of the telescopes, named Planck after the physicist Max Plank who discovered black body radiation, will be specifically tuned for monitoring the background radiation still remaining from the Bang - and amazingly this will be kept at a running temperature of minus 272.7°C!
The other telescope will be named Herschel, after the astronomer William Herschel who discovered Uranus as well as infrared radiation, and will actually be looking at the infrared radiation from the star-forming nurseries and other fascinating parts of the Universe to give us a clearer picture of the space around us.
They're both going to be in an orbit of 1.5 million kilometres above the Earth's surface, an incredibly high orbit that should keep them clear of most debris.
As with all scientific endeavours, scientists hope to glean new information about how the Universe was formed from these instruments, and as has been proved many times before what we think about how things work now might not necessarily last for long; in this fast moving scientific world theories can be replaced in a matter of years.
Head over to The Independent article on the telescopes, and cast a loving gaze skywards while you imagine just how we got here.
Issue: 107 | December, 2009