An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

A European Space Agency (ESA) mission to map the full sky in the 30 GHz to 1 THz range and to measure the → anisotropies of the → cosmic microwave background (CMB) with a sensitivity set by fundamental limits, i.e. photon noise and contamination by foregrounds. It was launched on 14 May 2009, together with the → Herschel Satellite. Its observing position is a halo orbit around the L2 → Lagrangian point, some 1.5 million km from Earth. Its → Gregorian-like off-axis telescope has an effective aperture of 1.5 m and images the sky on two sets of feed-horns. The Low Frequency Instrument (LFI, at frequencies 30, 44, 70 GHz) amplifies with High Electron Mobility Transistors cooled at 20 K the radiation collected by 13 horns. The High Frequency Instrument (HFI, at 100, 143, 217, 353, 545,
857 GHz) detects the shorter waves with 52 bolometers cooled at only 0.1 degree above the → absolute zero. Both instruments can detect both the total intensity and polarization of photons. The Planck mission is intended to provide maps with a sensitivity of a few micro-Kelvin and an angular resolution down to 5 arcmin, which is considered as a major improvement with respect to the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (→ WMAP) launched by the NASA in 2002. Planck will provide a major source of information relevant to several cosmological and astrophysical issues, such as testing theories of the early Universe and the origin of cosmic structure. It will also provide to astronomers 9 complete maps of the full sky at wavelengths from 0.3 mm to 1 cm, that complement the 4 maps taken by the → IRAS satellite in the 2.5 to 100 micrometer range.

See also: → Planck; → satellite.