Browse Archive
-
Best Map Ever of the Universe
This map shows the oldest light in our universe, as detected with the greatest precision yet by the Planck mission. The ancient light, called the cosmic microwave background, was imprinted on the sky ...
› View Image -
The Universe Comes into Sharper Focus
This graphic illustrates the evolution of satellites designed to measure ancient light leftover from the big bang that created our universe 13.8 billion years ago. Called the cosmic microwave backgrou...
› View Image -
Map of Matter in the Universe
This full-sky map from the Planck mission shows matter between Earth and the edge of the observable universe. Regions with less mass show up as lighter areas while regions with more mass are darker. T...
› View Image -
Peculiar Features in Patterns of Ancient Light
The Planck mission has imaged the oldest light in our universe, called the cosmic microwave background, with unprecedented precision. The results fit well with what we know about the universe and its ...
› View Image -
Refining the Ingredients of Our Universe
Planck's detailed map of the oldest light in our universe allowed scientists to take the most precise inventory of the universe's ingredients to date. Normal matter that makes up stars and galaxies co...
› View Image -
The Universe, Summed Up in a Squiggly Line
This graph shows the temperature differences in the oldest light in the universe, called the cosmic microwave background, detected by Planck at different distances apart on the sky. The curve is known...
› View Image -
Through the Universe's Looking Glass
Data from the Planck mission have allowed scientists to create a map showing matter everywhere in the universe, both light and dark. This simulation shows how it was done.
› View Image
Normal, or ligh... -
Bridging Cities of Galaxies
Planck has discovered a bridge of hot gas that connects galaxy clusters Abell 399 (lower center) and Abell 401 (top left). The galaxy pair is located about a billion light-years from Earth, and the ga...
› View Image -
Galactic Haze seen by Planck and Galactic 'bubbles' seen by Fermi
This all-sky image shows the distribution of the galactic haze seen by ESA's Planck mission at microwave frequencies superimposed over the high-energy sky, as seen by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Tele...
› View Image -
The mysterious Galactic Haze seen by Planck
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 comp...
› View Image -
All-sky image of molecular gas and three molecular cloud complexes seen by Planck
This all-sky image shows the distribution of carbon monoxide (CO), a molecule used by astronomers to trace molecular clouds across the sky, as seen by Planck.
› View Image
Molecular clouds, the dense ... -
Planck's View of the Whole Sky
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 o...
› View Image -
Bird's Eye View of Orion
An active star-formation region in the constellation Orion, as seen by Planck.
-
Planck's View of Orion
An active star-formation region in the constellation Orion, as seen by Planck.
-
Planck Sees Perseus
A low activity, star-formation region in the constellation Perseus, as seen by Planck.
-
Tendrils of Cold Dust
Planck images a galactic web of cold dust.
-
Milky Way Dust at Different Scales
Filamentary structures in our Milky Way galaxy are apparent at large scales and small scales.
-
Ariane 5 carrying Herschel and Planck lifts off
Ariane 5 enclosing Herschel and Planck lift off, at Europe's Spaceport on 14 May 2009.
-
Artist Concept of Launch Rocket
This is an artist concept of the rocket carrying Hershel and Planck.
-
Artist Concept
This is an artist's concept of the Planck spacecraft.