The microwave strip observed by Planck (multi-coloured curve) is superimposed on a visible-light image of the sky, which is dominated by the disc of our Milky Way galaxy (Image: ESA/LFI/HFI Consortia/Axel Mellinger)
The Planck spacecraft has obtained its first peek at the afterglow of the big bang, revealing it in unprecedented detail. Its first map of the entire sky is set to be complete in about six months.
The European Space Agency spacecraft was launched into space on 14 May. It is observing the glow of hot gas from just 380,000 years after the big bang – about 13.73 billion years ago – called the cosmic microwave background.
The detailed properties of this background may contain hints of hidden extra dimensions or multiple universes, as well as providing clues to what caused a brief, early period of incredibly rapid cosmic expansion.
Planck began surveying the microwave background on 13 August, a few weeks after reaching its planned perch 1.5 million kilometres from Earth at a point called L2 and cooling its detectors to within 0.1 °C above absolute zero.
Now, the Planck team has released the probe’s first image, an observational strip covering about 5 per cent of the sky.
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