The Planck satellite released its first microwave radiation map of the entire sky. The image is made from 10 months of data and will be followed by three more all-sky surveys by the end of the European Space Agency’s mission in 2012.
Astronomers will use the data to study the early universe and how stars and galaxies form.
“This single image captures both our own cosmic backyard — the Milky Way galaxy that we live in — but also the subtle imprint of the Big Bang from which the whole universe emerged,” David Parker of the U.K. Space Agency said in a press release July 5.
To read the rest of the article, click here.