The coolest thing

over a year ago i was blogging about Planck and how all astrophysicists and cosmologists were overwhelmingly excited about its launch... and now, finally my first news story about this brand-new observatory is online!

there's no science yet - just a pretty picture... super pretty actually! or better, super cool :-)

Planck all-sky image depicts galactic mist over the cosmic background

An all-sky image from Planck's recently completed first survey highlights the two major emission sources in the microwave sky: the cosmic background and the Milky Way. The relic radiation coming from the very early Universe is, to a large extent, masked by intervening astronomical sources, in particular by our own Galaxy's diffuse emission. Thanks to Planck's nine frequency channels, and to sophisticated image analysis techniques, it is possible to separate these two contributions into distinct scientific products that are of immense value for cosmologists and astrophysicists, alike. More...

Image Credit: ESA, HFI and LFI consortia.