Planck is a space observatory operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), and designed to observe anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at microwave and infra-red frequencies, with high sensitivity and small angular resolution. The project, initially called COBRAS/SAMBA, is named in honour of the German physicist Max Planck (1858–1947), who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.
Planck is ESA's 'time machine', Europe's first mission to study the relic radiation from the Big Bang. Using it astronomers will be able to see back in time, towards the beginning of space and time as we know it.
Published on Mar 21, 2013
Acquired by ESA's Planck space telescope, the most detailed map ever created of the cosmic microwave background -- the relic radiation from the Big Bang -- was released today, revealing the existence of features that challenge the foundations of our current understanding of the Universe.
