Planck sees a cosmic journey 13 billion years in the making 02 April 2013 Cosmologists have used data from Planck to reveal the distribution of dark matter across 13 billion years of cosmic history, as seen projected on the sky. This image was created by analysing the gravitational lensing effect imprinted by cosmic structure on the Cosmic Microwave Background. Read more
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Planck will help provide answers to some of the most important questions in modern science: how did the Universe begin, how did it evolve to the state we observe today, and how will it continue to evolve in the future? Planck's objective is to analyse, with the highest accuracy ever achieved, the remnants of the radiation that filled the Universe immediately after the Big Bang - this we observe today as the Cosmic Microwave Background.
Latest News
Simple but challenging: the Universe according to Planck 21 March 2013 Planck's first all-sky image of the Cosmic Microwave Background is the most precise picture of the early Universe so far. Whilst the data agree well with the standard model of cosmology, the great quality of this image highlights significant anomalies challenging the foundations of our current understanding of the Universe. Read more
Planck discovers filament of hot gas linking two galaxy clusters 20 November 2012 Astronomers have discovered a 'bridge' of hot gas connecting the galaxy clusters Abell 399 and 401. At least part of this gas might derive from the warm-hot intergalactic medium - the elusive web of gaseous filaments pervading the Universe. Read more
Featured publications
Planck cosmology results 2013 - preprints 21 March 2013 The scientific findings of the mission are presented in a series of papers based on data from the first 15.5 months of Planck operations. The papers have been submitted to the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics and the preprints have been made available online. Read more
A&A Special Issue: Planck early results 14 March 2012 The December 2011 volume of Astronomy & Astrophysics contained a special feature dedicated to early results from the ESA Planck mission. A collection of 26 articles presents the first year of operations of Planck and the performance of its payload: the Early Release Compact Source Catalogue, ERCSC; first scientific results based on the ERCSC, covering both galactic and extragalactic sources; and first scientific results based on the maps used as input for the production of the ERCSC. Jan Tauber, ESA's Planck Project Scientist, coordinated this special feature. Read more
A&A Special Issue: Pre-launch status of Planck mission 05 December 2011 This A&A issue features 13 articles describing the pre-flight status of the European Space Agency Planck mission. Read more
