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| Planck sees a cosmic journey 13 billion years in the making |
| Cosmologists using data from ESA's Planck satellite have compiled the first all-sky image of the distribution of dark matter across the entire history of the Universe as seen projected on the sky. This is made possible by analysing the tiny distortions imprinted on the photons of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) by the gravitational lensing effect of massive cosmic structures. As photons travelled through these structures, which consist primarily of dark matter, their paths became bent, slightly changing the pattern of the CMB. Although noisy, this image is the first measurement performed over almost the whole sky of the gravitational potential that distorts the CMB, and is one of the highlights of Planck's cosmological results. With these unique data, cosmologists can investigate 13 billion years of the formation of structure in the Universe. The data agree very well with the expectations from the leading cosmological model that describes the origin and evolution of cosmic structure in the Universe. |
| Date: 02 Apr 2013 |
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| Simple but challenging: the Universe according to Planck |
| ESA's Planck satellite has delivered its first all-sky image of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), bringing with it new challenges about our understanding of the origin and evolution of the cosmos. The image has provided the most precise picture of the early Universe so far. |
| Date: 21 Mar 2013 |
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| Planck discovers filament of hot gas linking two galaxy clusters |
| Scanning the sky at microwave and sub-millimetre wavelengths with Planck, astronomers have unambiguously detected a 'bridge' of hot gas connecting two galaxy clusters, Abell 399 and Abell 401. The filament extends over about 10 million light-years and contains gas with a temperature of about 80 million K. At least part of this gas might derive from the warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM) - the elusive web of gaseous filaments which is believed to pervade the Universe. |
| Date: 20 Nov 2012 |
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| New Planck maps reveal unseen details across the Milky Way |
| An unambiguous detection of the Galactic Haze - a mysterious, diffuse emission from the central portion of the Milky Way - and the first all-sky map of carbon monoxide, whose emission traces the molecular clouds where stars are born, are among the results being presented by the Planck Collaboration at an international conference held from 13 to 17 February 2012, in Bologna, Italy. These results have been achieved during the complex task of identifying and removing the foreground contamination due to Galactic and extragalactic emission that obscures the Cosmic Microwave Background. |
| Date: 13 Feb 2012 |
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| Planck's HFI completes its survey of early Universe |
| The High Frequency Instrument on ESA's Planck mission has completed its survey of the remnant light from the Big Bang. The sensor ran out of coolant on Saturday as expected, ending its ability to detect this faint energy. |
| Date: 16 Jan 2012 |
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| Planck sees new, mysterious components in Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds |
| Thanks to its broad spectral coverage and very high sensitivity, Planck is peering deep into the interstellar medium of the Milky Way and discovering new components and physical mechanisms taking place therein. The results emerging from Planck's first all-sky survey include strong evidence for the presence of extremely rapidly spinning dust grains, an excess emission explained in terms of a previously poorly quantified 'dark gas' and the characterisation of an excess emission arising from the interstellar medium that permeates the Small Magellanic Cloud, a nearby galaxy orbiting our own Milky Way. These are amongst the highlights presented by the Planck Collaboration at a conference held from 10 to 14 January 2011 in Paris, France. |
| Date: 11 Jan 2011 |
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| Planck's first science results and the release of an extensive compact source catalogue |
| The Planck Collaboration presents the first science results to emerge from the mission, covering compact and diffuse foreground emission sources, at a conference held from 10 to 14 January 2011 in Paris, France. These results are accompanied by the release of the first Planck product to be publicly distributed: the Early Release Compact Source Catalogue, a highly robust compilation of compact sources detected in each of the telescope's nine channels. Eagerly awaited by the scientific community, the catalogue contents span a wide variety of astronomical sources, and also includes a sample of galaxy clusters detected through the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect and a list of cold molecular cloud cores distributed throughout the Milky Way. |
| Date: 11 Jan 2011 |
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| Planck's successful hunt probes galaxy clusters on very broad mass range |
| The first all-sky survey of galaxy clusters detected via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect is amongst the highlights presented by the Planck Collaboration at a conference held from 10 to 14 January 2011 in Paris, France. The survey, which has benefited from a fruitful collaboration with ESA's XMM-Newton observatory, probes a wide range of cluster masses and other properties, which is unprecedented for a Sunyaev-Zel'dovich sample. Along with the first results enabled by the survey, the Early Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Cluster sample is being publicly released, providing the community with a robust data set for further studies and follow-up observations of galaxy clusters. |
| Date: 11 Jan 2011 |
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| Planck sees traces of early structure formation in the cosmic infrared background |
| While targeting the Cosmic Microwave Background, Planck has also captured another important diffuse radiation, the Cosmic Infrared Background, which consists of the light emitted by all galaxies since their formation. This signal, detected by Planck at submillimetre wavelengths, exhibits a high degree of structure and enables astronomers to investigate the still unclear link between star-forming galaxies and the underlying distribution of dark matter, up to the earliest phases of the formation of cosmic structure. This result is amongst the highlights presented by the Planck Collaboration at a conference held from 10 to 14 January 2011 in Paris, France. |
| Date: 11 Jan 2011 |
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| Planck traces the coldest objects in the nearby Universe |
| With its power to detect cosmic material at unprecedentedly low temperatures, Planck has completed the first unbiased, all-sky survey of compact cold and dusty objects in the Milky Way and, at the same time, the first all-sky survey of cool dust in other galaxies. These extensive data sets allow astronomers to shed new light on the earliest phases of star formation. The public release of the Planck Early Cold Core Catalogue will offer the community a large number of new, cold galactic targets to be studied with other telescopes, including ESA's Herschel Space Observatory. These are amongst the highlights presented by the Planck Collaboration at a conference held from 10 to 14 January 2011 in Paris, France. |
| Date: 11 Jan 2011 |
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| Europe maintains its presence on the final frontier |
| ESA has decided to extend the productive lives of 11 of its operating space science missions. This will enable ESA's world-class science missions to continue returning pioneering results until at least 2014. |
| Date: 22 Nov 2010 |
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| Planck's first glimpse at galaxy clusters and a new supercluster |
| Surveying the microwave sky, Planck has obtained its very first images of galaxy clusters, amongst the largest objects in the Universe, by means of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect, a characteristic signature they imprint on the Cosmic Microwave Background. Joining forces in a fruitful collaboration between ESA missions, XMM-Newton followed up Planck's detections and revealed that one of them is a previously unknown supercluster of galaxies. |
| Date: 15 Sep 2010 |
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| Planck all-sky image depicts galactic mist over the cosmic background |
| An all-sky image from Planck's recently completed first survey highlights the two major emission sources in the microwave sky: the cosmic background and the Milky Way. The relic radiation coming from the very early Universe is, to a large extent, masked by intervening astronomical sources, in particular by our own Galaxy's diffuse emission. Thanks to Planck's nine frequency channels, and to sophisticated image analysis techniques, it is possible to separate these two contributions into distinct scientific products that are of immense value for cosmologists and astrophysicists, alike. |
| Date: 05 Jul 2010 |
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| Star formation processes highlighted by Planck |
| The processes involved in star formation can be disentangled using the power of multi-frequency observations. New images from Planck reveal the interstellar medium and isolate the physical processes at work in our Galaxy. |
| Date: 26 Apr 2010 |
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| New Planck images trace cold dust and reveal large-scale structure in the Milky Way |
| New images from ESA's Planck mission reveal details of the structure of the coldest regions in our Galaxy. Filamentary clouds predominate, connecting the largest to the smallest scales in the Milky Way. These images are a scientific by-product of a mission which will ultimately provide the sharpest picture ever of the early Universe. |
| Date: 17 Mar 2010 |
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| Mission extensions approved for science missions |
| ESA's Science Programme Committee has approved the extension of mission operations for XMM-Newton, INTEGRAL, Venus Express, Mars Express and Cluster, as well as the ESA support to the operations of HST and SOHO, until 31 December 2012. An additional year of operations has been approved for Planck. |
| Date: 07 Oct 2009 |
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| Planck first light yields promising results |
| Preliminary results from the Planck First Light Survey, performed to demonstrate the stability of the instruments and the ability to calibrate them over long periods, indicate that the data quality is excellent. This bodes well for the full sky survey that has just begun. |
| Date: 17 Sep 2009 |
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| Planck instruments reach their coldest temperature |
| The extremely low operational temperature of just a tenth of a degree above absolute zero (0.1 K) has been reached on the detectors of Planck's High Frequency Instrument (HFI). This makes the HFI detectors the coldest known objects in outer space. The achievement, seven weeks after launch, marks a key milestone for the Planck mission. The spacecraft's active cooling system has now reached its final operational conditions and the two instruments onboard Planck (HFI and the Low Frequency Instrument, LFI) are now both at their cryogenic operational temperatures. |
| Date: 03 Jul 2009 |
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| Herschel and Planck commissioning has begun |
| After a perfect injection by the Ariane 5 launcher on 14 May, the critical Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) for Herschel and Planck has started to wind down, while commissioning of the scientific instruments and subsystems on both spacecraft has begun. |
| Date: 20 May 2009 |
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| ESA en route to the origins of the Universe |
| ESA PR 10-2009: Two of the most ambitious missions ever attempted to unveil the secrets of the darkest, coldest and oldest parts of the Universe got off to a successful start this afternoon with the dual launch of ESA's far infrared space telescope Herschel and cosmic background mapper Planck on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.
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| Date: 14 May 2009 |
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