The Mysterious Galactic Haze seen by Planck

Planck_planck12-001c_1024

planck_planck12-001c February 13th, 2012

Credit: ESA/NASA/Planck Collaboration

This all-sky image shows the spatial distribution over the whole sky of the galactic haze at 30 and 44 GHz, extracted from the Planck observations. In addition to this component, other foreground components such as charged particles accelerated radially, known as synchrotron radiation, thermal dust, spinning dust, and extragalactic point sources contribute to the total emission detected by Planck at these frequencies. The prominent empty band across the plane of the galaxy corresponds to the mask that has been used in the analysis of the data to exclude regions with strong foreground contamination due to the galaxy's diffuse emission. The mask also includes strong point-like sources located over the whole sky.

The galactic haze is the infinity-like symbol seen around the galactic center, and its spectrum is similar to that of synchrotron emission, a type of non-thermal radiation generated by charged particles. However, compared to the synchrotron emission seen elsewhere in the Milky Way, the galactic haze has a "harder" spectrum, meaning that its emission does not decline as rapidly with increasing frequency. Diffuse synchrotron emission in the galaxy is interpreted as radiation from highly energetic electrons that have been accelerated in shocks created by supernova explosions.

Several explanations have been proposed for the unusual shape of the haze's spectrum, including enhanced supernova rates, galactic winds and even annihilation of dark-matter particles. Thus far, none of them have been confirmed and the issue remains open.

Provider: Planck

Image Source: http://planck.ipac.caltech.edu/image/planck12-001c

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

Image Use Policy: Public Domain

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Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Milky Way
Subject - Milky Way
Galaxy

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Green Planck Millimeter 6.8 mm
Red Planck Millimeter 10.0 mm
Spectrum_ir2
Green
Red
Planck_planck12-001c_1280
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ID
planck12-001c
Subject Category
B.5  
Subject Name
Milky Way
Credits
ESA/NASA/Planck Collaboration
Release Date
2012-02-13
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
http://planck.ipac.caltech.edu/image/planck12-001c
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Planck, Planck
Instrument
Color Assignment
Green, Red
Band
Millimeter, Millimeter
Bandpass
Central Wavelength
6800000, 10000000
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
2018-06-20T23:58:59Z
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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