Planck Mission Thread

[MeteorWayne]

Planck is now the coldest thing in space. It has now reached it's operation temperature of 0.1 K.

That's just a tenth of a degree C above absolute zero.


On July 3, the European Space Agency's Planck spacecraft reached this frigid extreme as part of a key step in the satellite's mission to observe the remnant radiation of the Big Bang.


Since its launch on May 14 (accompanied by its sibling spacecraft Herschel), Planck has been traveling to its final orbit at the second Lagrange point of the sun-Earth system, L2, and cooling its instruments down to their operational temperature of minus 459.49 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 273.05 Celsius). This temperature is just 0.1 Celsius above absolute zero, the coldest temperature theoretically possible in our universe.


"It is indeed both the coldest spot in any spacecraft that we know about, and also the coldest known object in space, including dust, gas etc.," Planck project scientist Jan Tauber wrote in an email. "Of course in a laboratory on Earth, colder spots can be made."


Such low temperatures are necessary for Planck's detectors to study the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) — the first light released by the universe, only 380,000 years after the Big Bang — by measuring its temperature across the sky.


Over the next few weeks, mission operators will fine-tune the spacecraft's instruments. Planck will begin to survey the sky in mid-August.

posting.php?mode=post&f=6

 

[3488]

As per update from Wayne.

Planck sensors have chilled to their optimum temperature of just 0.1 K or minus 273.05 C.

ESA article here.

Andrew Brown.

 

[derekmcd]

Here's a 100+ page pdf document all about Planck and the science they are researching.

Bluebook

 

[MeteorWayne]

http://www.esa.int/esaMI/Planck/SEM5CMFWNZF_0.html

Planck first light yields promising results


Planck first light survey

17 September 2009
Preliminary results from ESA’s Planck mission to study the early Universe indicate that the data quality is excellent. This bodes well for the full sky survey that has just begun.

Planck started surveying the sky regularly from its vantage point at the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system, L2, on 13 August. The instruments were fine-tuned for optimum performance in the period preceding this date.
............

With check-outs of the subsystems finished, instrument commissioning, optimisation, and initial calibration was completed by the second week of August.

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The 'first light' survey, which began on 13 August, was a two-week period during which Planck surveyed the sky continuously. It was carried out to verify the stability of the instruments and the ability to calibrate them over long periods to the exquisite accuracy needed.

This survey was completed on 27 August, yielding maps of a strip of the sky, one for each of Planck's nine frequencies. Each map is a ring, about 15° wide, stretching across the full sky. Preliminary analysis indicates that the quality of the data is excellent.


Routine operations started as soon as the first light survey was completed, and surveying will now continue for at least 15 months without a break. In approximately 6 months, the first all-sky map will be assembled.

 

[rekk1986]

Need more Information about Planck

I want to know more about Planck. and When another Planck will be launched ?

 

[Swampcat]

Re: Need more Information about Planck

Planck Mission Thread

Planck and Herschel

Planck and Herschel en route for L2

Planck Science Team Home Page

Welcome to SDC.

Search features are available to find threads on SDC. Google also works well.

 

[MeteorWayne]

{bump}

 

[MeteorWayne]

Re: Need more Information about Planck

I will merge this into the main Planck thread.

Here's the ESA Planck site:

http://www.esa.int/esaMI/Planck/index.html

 

[MeteorWayne]

Courtesy of EarthlingX:

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMARKPK2AG_index_1.html#subhead3

ESA’s Planck spacecraft’s main goal is to study the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) – the relic radiation from the Big Bang. It will map the fluctuations in the CMB that became today’s clusters of galaxies. Released just 380,000 years after the Big Bang, the CMB is the oldest ‘light’ that can be seen in the Universe. Planck will see both nearby and distant clusters of galaxies and be able to use its microwave ‘eyes’ to study cold gas in our Galaxy, the Milky Way.

Credits: ESA - C. Carreau

 

[EarthlingX]

http://www.esa.int : Planck unveils the Universe – now and then (with video and more)

5 July 2010

ESA PR-15 2010 ESA’s Planck mission has delivered its first all-sky image. It not only provides new insight into the way stars and galaxies form but also tells us how the Universe itself came to life after the Big Bang.


The microwave sky as seen by Planck

“This is the moment that Planck was conceived for,” says ESA Director of Science and Robotic Exploration, David Southwood. “We’re not giving the answer. We are opening the door to an Eldorado where scientists can seek the nuggets that will lead to deeper understanding of how our Universe came to be and how it works now. The image itself and its remarkable quality is a tribute to the engineers who built and have operated Planck. Now the scientific harvest must begin.”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYqr3IX7Ufk[/youtube]

http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMF2FRZ5BG_index_1.html#subhead4

This multi-frequency all-sky image of the microwave sky has been composed using data from Planck covering the electromagnetic spectrum from 30 GHz to 857 GHz.

The mottled structure of the CMBR, with its tiny temperature fluctuations reflecting the primordial density variations from which today’s cosmic structure originated, is clearly visible in the high-latitude regions of the map.

The central band is the plane of our Galaxy. A large portion of the image is dominated by the diffuse emission from its gas and dust. The image was derived from data collected by Planck during its first all-sky survey, and comes from about 12 months of observations.

To the right of the main image, below the plane of the Galaxy, is a large cloud of gas in our Galaxy. The obvious arc of light surrounding it is Barnard’s Loop – the expanding bubble of an exploded star. Planck has seen whole other galaxies. The great spiral galaxy in Andromeda, 2.2 million light-years from Earth, appears as a sliver of microwave light, released by the coldest dust in its giant body. Other, more distant, galaxies with supermassive black holes appear as single points of microwaves dotting the image.

Derived from observations taken between August 2009 and June 2010, this image is a low-resolution version of the full data.

Credits: ESA/ LFI & HFI Consortia

 

[EarthlingX]

sci.esa.int : Planck all-sky image depicts galactic mist over the cosmic background (more videos, images)

05 Jul 2010

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.

This multi-colour all-sky image of the microwave sky has been synthesized using data spanning the full frequency range of Planck, which covers the electromagnetic spectrum from 30 to 857 GHz. The sequence of images shows the all-sky map with, superimposed, the locations of previous Planck image releases, a selection of extragalactic sources, and a map of molecular clouds. Individual images and detailed captions can be accessed by following the image links on the right-hand menu. Credit: ESA, HFI and LFI consortia.

A quick glimpse at this newly released all-sky image might suggest that it is only possible to isolate the 'background' CMB signal from the galactic foreground in small areas of the sky. In order to achieve what will be the sharpest image ever obtained of the early Universe, however, it is necessary to separate the two components over a considerable portion of the sky. This is accomplished through complex image analysis software, which has been specifically developed for this mission by the Planck science teams. The analysis relies on the exceptional resolution and sensitivity of the data collected by Planck in all of its nine frequency channels.

 

[EarthlingX]

sci.esa.int : Planck's first glimpse at galaxy clusters and a new supercluster

15 Sep 2010

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.

Multi-band observations of the galaxy cluster Abell 2319. (Click on the image for a larger version and further details.)
Credit: ESA/ LFI & HFI Consortia

The Coma cluster as it appears through the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect (top left) and X-ray emission (top right). The images are superimposed on a wide-field view of the region from the Digitised Sky Survey (lower two panels). (Click on the image for a larger version and further details.)

A new supercluster, seen by Planck and XMM-Newton.
Credit: Planck image: ESA/LFI & HFI Consortia; XMM-Newton image: ESA