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| Artist's impression of the Planck spacecraft |
Planck was launched in May 2009 and its first all-sky image, including emissions from our own Milky Way galaxy, was presented in July 2010. The first scientific dataset was released in January 2011.
After years of painstaking work, scientists have now been able to remove the bright foreground emissions that lie between us and the Universe’s first light. This light was imprinted on the sky when the Universe was just 380 000 years old and seen today as the cosmic microwave background.
Planck’s map of the cosmic microwave background over the whole sky is the best ever made. By analysing it in detail, scientists have made important findings about the composition and evolution of the Universe from its birth to the present day and beyond. These results will be presented at the media briefing.
Source :ESA