Planck first light yields promising results

[bystander]

Image Credits: ESA/LFI & HFI Consortia, Background Optical Image: Axel Mellinger

planck20090917-640.jpg (58.82 KiB) Viewed 491 times

One of Planck's first images is shown as a strip superimposed over a two-dimensional projection of the whole sky as seen in visible light. The strip covers 360° of sky and, at its widest, is about 15° across. The prominent horizontal band is light from our Milky Way galaxy.

The Planck image shows how the sky looks at millimeter-long wavelengths. Red areas are brighter, blue areas are darker. The large red strips show the Milky Way. The small bright and dark spots far from the galactic plane are from the cosmic microwave background - relic radiation leftover from the birth of our universe.

Planck is measuring the sky at nine wavelengths of light, one of which is shown here.

Planck First Light Yields Promising Results
ESA - Planck - 2009 Sept 17

Planck Snaps its First Images of Ancient Cosmic Light
NASA - JPL - Planck - 2009 Sept 17

[bystander]

HEAPOW: Light from the Dawn of Time (2009 September 28)

As we all know, the Universe began about 13.73 billion years ago from a state of nearly infinite density and temperature. The intense, high-energy radiation from this time diffused and cooled until at the present time its seen as a weak glow of microwave radiation which permeates the entire sky. Astronomers puzzle at the fact that this radiation, which must have been extremely smooth, somehow produced the lumpy structure we see today in the form of galaxy clusters, stars and people (some more lumpy than others). And why is space so flat? And why do disparate pieces of the Universe, places which could not possibly have known of each other's existence when they were formed, have exactly the same temperature? And what is this anti-gravitational force called Dark Energy about, and where does it come from? It almost seems that the more we examine the Universe the more questions we have. The image above shows a strip of the cosmic microwave sky superimposed on an optical background image. This is one of the first observations obtained with the new Planck satellite. Named after the famed physicist Max Planck, the Planck mission was built by the European Space Agency with significant participation from NASA. It orbits about 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 miles) from earth, in a special place called the second Lagrange Point. Planck will scan the sky and provide precise measurements of the tiny fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background, which provide the seeds of the structure we see today.

Planck's First Glimpse at the Universe

[neufer]

As we all know, the Universe began about 13.73 billion years ago from a state of nearly infinite density and temperature. The intense, high-energy radiation from this time diffused and cooled until at the present time its seen as a weak glow of microwave radiation which permeates the entire sky. Astronomers puzzle at the fact that this radiation, which must have been extremely smooth, somehow produced the lumpy structure we see today in the form of galaxy clusters, stars and people (some more lumpy than others).

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<<Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford (Frank Bank) is a fictional character in the television sitcom Leave It to Beaver. The show aired from October 4, 1957 to June 20, 1963. Lumpy is a bit of a bully and, with Eddie Haskell, is one of Wally Cleaver's friends. Lumpy is a papa's boy. He is well-known for referring to his father as "Daddy". Fred would tell Clarence he was too old and big (usually referring to his "lumpiness") to call him "Daddy". More often than not, Fred would lose his patience and call Lumpy a "big boob" or a "big oaf".>>

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<<Daniel Rutherford (3 November 1749 – 15 November 1819) was a Scottish chemist and physician who is most famous for the isolation of nitrogen in 1772. When Joseph Black was studying the properties of carbon dioxide, he found that a candle would not burn in it. When a candle was burned in a closed container of air, the candle would go out eventually, and the remaining air would not support a flame. This was normal, but when the carbon dioxide (caused by the candle) was absorbed by chemicals, some air was not absorbed. The air that remained did not support a flame. He turned this problem over to his student at the time, Daniel Rutherford. Rutherford kept a mouse in a space with a confined quality of air until it died. Then, he burned a candle in the remaining air until it went out. Afterwards, he burned phosphorus in that, until it would not burn. Then the air was passed through a carbon dioxide absorbing solution. The remaining air did not support combustion, and a mouse could not live in it. Rutherford called the gas (which we now know would have consisted primarily of nitrogen) “noxious air” or “phlogisticated air”. Rutherford reported the experiment in 1772. He and Black were convinced of the validity of the phlogiston theory, so they explained their results in terms of it.>>

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<<Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, OM, FRS (30 August 1871–19 October 1937) was a New Zealand chemist and physicist who became known as the father of nuclear physics. He discovered that atoms have a small charged nucleus, and thereby pioneered the Rutherford model (or planetary model, which later evolved into the Bohr model or orbital model) of the atom, through his discovery of Rutherford scattering with his gold foil experiment. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908. He is widely credited as splitting the atom in 1917 and leading the first experiment to "split the nucleus" in a controlled manner.>>

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<<Fred Rutherford (Richard Deacon) is the father of a son named Clarence, who is nicknamed "Lumpy" by everyone in town, and a daughter named Violet. Violet gives Beaver a black eye in an early episode. Lumpy also has a never-seen-on-the-show brother.Fred thinks Clarence is a model son and defends him when he is blamed for troublesome activities. He is shocked if "his boy" misbehaves. Fred is Ward Cleaver's suit-wearing office co-worker. He often gets on Ward's nerves, but Ward usually takes it well. Fred and Ward work for a "big company" with offices in New York City. Fred drops over to the Cleaver house occasionally on work matters or social calls. In one episode, the Cleavers have the Rutherfords in for cards. Fred plays golf at a local country club.

Geraldine/Gwendolyn Rutherford: Fred's wife.>>

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