Heh, I'm not a cosmologist. The paucity of Herschel description is mostly because I wrote this entry quickly before work and had to post it before I could expound further on Herschel's virtues.

It doesn't help that the shuttle mission was launched the same week. Manned spaceflight is always the headline grabber. The BBC has attempted to rectify the balance in their coverage today, putting the H&P launch in the prime spot on the "Science & Technology" page and the shuttle coverage in a lesser position.