Planck is a European Space Agency satellite, launched in May, 2009 from the ESA Spaceport in French Guyana, to map the Cosmic Microwave Background and other astrophysical and cosmological sources of radiation over a frequency range of 30 GHz to 850 GHz with the highest sensitivity and resolution ever achieved.
The London Planck Analysis Centre at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø is responsible for the crucial task of determining the geometry of Planck's focal plane -- where its detectors are pointing and with exactly what resolution. Only with these measurements can Planck be properly calibrated and its results compared with cosmological theories. After such calibration, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø scientists will be involved with a wide variety of scientific projects, including:
- Determining the overall cosmological parameters of the Universe in the Big Bang model
- Measuring the global topology of the Universe
- Using the synergy between Planck and Herschel to build a model for the formation and evolution of galaxies
- Using Planck's observations of Clusters of galaxies as probes of structure formation and evolution
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Other Planck resources: