The Independent: This is the first image of the entire sky taken by the European Space Agency’s Planck satellite, which was launched last year. The satellite’s goal is to map the cosmic microwave background radiation—the light that has pervaded the universe ever since radiation and matter fell out of equilibrium some 400 000 years after the Big Bang. In the map, emission from the Milky Way appears blue and white and occupies the central regions; the CMB appears magenta stippled with yellow and occupies the periphery. Cosmologists hope to use Planck‘s unprecedentedly detailed maps to understand conditions in the early universe.
