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PIA17449: Planck and the Cosmic Microwave Background (Artist Concept)
The oldest light in the universe, called the cosmic microwave background, as observed by the Planck space telescope is shown in the oval sky map. An artist's concept of Planck is next to the map.
 Mission:  Planck 
 Instrument:  Planck Telescope 
 Product Size:  5645 x 3500 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  European Space Agency (ESA) 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA17449.tif (59.3 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA17449.jpg (4.399 MB)  

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

The oldest light in the universe, called the cosmic microwave background, as observed by the Planck space telescope is shown in the oval sky map. An artist's concept of Planck is next to the map.

The cosmic microwave background was imprinted on the sky when the universe was just 380,000 years old. It shows tiny temperature fluctuations that correspond to regions of slightly different densities, representing the seeds of all future structure: the stars and galaxies of today.

Planck is a European Space Agency mission, with significant participation from NASA. NASA's Planck Project Office is based at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. JPL contributed mission-enabling technology for both of Planck's science instruments. European, Canadian and U.S. Planck scientists work together to analyze the Planck data.

More information is online at http://www.nasa.gov/planck, http://planck.caltech.edu and http://www.esa.int/planck.

Image Credit:
ESA and the Planck Collaboration - D. Ducros

Image Addition Date:
2013-10-23