Planck
Planck was ESA's observatory for mapping the cosmic microwave background, the radiation left from the early universe. Its Low Frequency Instrument and High Frequency Instrument measured tiny temperature differences and polarization across the sky from a Lissajous orbit around Sun-Earth L2. Repeated surveys separated the ancient cosmic signal from foreground emission in the Milky Way, enabling precise tests of models for the universe's composition, expansion, and formation of large-scale structure.
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Identity
- Aliases
- Planck Space Observatory missionPlanck mission
- Name
- Planck
- Status
- completed
Details
- Astronauts
- -
- Description
- Planck was ESA's observatory for mapping the cosmic microwave background, the radiation left from the early universe. Its Low Frequency Instrument and High Frequency Instrument measured tiny temperature differences and polarization across the sky from a Lissajous orbit around Sun-Earth L2. Repeated surveys separated the ancient cosmic signal from foreground emission in the Milky Way, enabling precise tests of models for the universe's composition, expansion, and formation of large-scale structure.
- Destination
- Lissajous orbit around the Sun–Earth L2 point, about 1.5 million km from Earth with an approximately one-year period, for mapping the cosmic microwave background and measuring the young Universe
- End Date
- 2013-10-23
- Launch Site
- Outcome
- Planck completed repeated full-sky surveys and was permanently switched off on October 23, 2013. Analysis continued after spacecraft operations ended, with major cosmology releases in 2013 and 2015 and the legacy data release in July 2018. Its temperature and polarization maps strengthened the standard cosmological model while sharpening measurements of the universe's age, matter content, and expansion history.
- Programs
- Start Date
- 2009-05-14
- Vehicle Families
Links
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- August 1, 2026 at 08:11:49 UTC
- Updated Time
- October 29, 2026 at 13:16:12 UTC
Other
- Affiliations
- Space Stations
- -
- Vehicles