2240 20160706143019.0 DOI 10.1051/0004-6361/201117360 ASTROimport-397 Decin, L. 2011 We present new Herschel/PACS images at 70, 100, and 160 µm of the well-known, nearby, carbon-rich asymptotic giant branch star IRC+10216 revealing multiple dust shells in its circumstellar envelope. For the first time, dust shells (or arcs) are detected until 320''. The almost spherical shells are non-concentric and have an angular extent between ~40° and ~200°. The shells have a typical width of 5''-8'', and the shell separation varies in the range of ~10''-35'', corresponding to ~500 -1 700 yr. Local density variations within one arc are visible. The shell/intershell density contrast is typically ~4, and the arcs contain some 50% more dust mass than the smooth envelope. The observed (nested) arcs record the mass-loss history over the past 16 000 yr, but Rayleigh-Taylor and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities in the turbulent astropause and astrosheath will erase any signature of the mass-loss history for at least the first 200 000 yr of mass loss. Accounting for the bowshock structure, the envelope mass around IRC+10216 contains >2 M? of gas and dust mass. It is argued that the origin of the shells is related to non-isotropic mass-loss events and clumpy dust formation. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA. Discovery of multiple dust shells beyond 1 arcmin in the circumstellar envelope of IRC +10216 using Herschel/PACS Royer, P. Cox, N. L. J. Vandenbussche, B. Ottensamer, R. Blommaert, J. A. D. L. Groenewegen, M. A. T. Barlow, M. J. Lim, T. Kerschbaum, F. Posch, T. Waelkens, C. A1 Astronomy and Astrophysics 534 2011 http://esoads.eso.org/abs/2011A%26A...534A...1D published in REFERD