Planck's View of the Whole Sky

Planck_planck10-003a_1024

planck_planck10-003a July 6th, 2010

Credit: ESA, HFI & LFI consortia

This image of the microwave sky was synthesized using data spanning the range of light frequencies detected by Planck. These low frequencies, which cannot be seen with the human eye, cover the range of 30 to 857 gigahertz.

The grainy structure of the cosmic microwave background, with its tiny temperature fluctuations reflecting the density variations from which the cosmic web of our universe originated, is clearly visible in the high-latitude regions of the map.

A vast portion of the sky, extending well above and below the galactic plane, is dominated by the diffuse emission from gas and dust in our Milky Way galaxy. While the galactic foreground hides the cosmic microwave background signal from our view, it also highlights the extent of our galaxy's large-scale structure.

Although the two main components of the microwave sky appear to be separable only in certain areas, a foreground removal over the entire sky is possible thanks to sophisticated image analysis techniques, which have been developed by the Planck scientific teams. These techniques rely on the observatory's unique frequency coverage and the unprecedented accuracy of its measurements.

This image is derived from data collected by Planck during its first all-sky survey, and covers about 12 months of observations.

Provider: Planck

Image Source: http://planck.ipac.caltech.edu/image/planck10-003a

Curator: NASA Planck Science Center, Pasadena, CA, USA

Image Use Policy: Public Domain

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Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Milky Way
Subject - Distant Universe
Cosmology > Morphology > Cosmic Background
Galaxy

Color Mapping Details Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Planck -
Planck_planck10-003a_1280
×
ID
planck10-003a
Subject Category
D.6.1.3   B.5  
Subject Name
Milky Way
Credits
ESA, HFI & LFI consortia
Release Date
2010-07-06
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
http://planck.ipac.caltech.edu/image/planck10-003a
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Planck
Instrument
Color Assignment
Band
Bandpass
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
Equinox
Reference Value
Reference Dimension
Reference Pixel
Scale
Rotation
Coordinate System Projection:
Quality
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
NASA Planck Science Center
URL
http://planck.ipac.caltech.edu
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
1200 E. California Blvd.
City
Pasadena
State/Province
CA
Postal Code
91125
Country
USA
Rights
Public Domain
Publisher
Publisher ID
planck
Resource ID
Metadata Date
2018-06-20T23:57:39Z
Metadata Version
1.2
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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