Planck observatory unveils coldest regions of our galaxy
Giant filaments of cold dust stretching through the coldest regions of our Galaxy are revealed in new images, released from ESA's Planck satellite.
Analysing these structures could help to determine the forces that shape our Galaxy and trigger star formation.
(Media-Newswire.com) - Giant filaments of cold dust stretching through the coldest regions of our Galaxy are revealed in new images, released from ESA's Planck satellite. Analysing these structures could help to determine the forces that shape our Galaxy and trigger star formation.
These images are a scientific by-product of a mission which will ultimately provide the best picture ever of the early Universe.
Vital components of the spacecraft were designed and built by staff at The University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics. The Manchester astronomers are now playing a major role in analysing the scientific data being produced.
Prof Richard Davis of The University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics said: "These are fantastically detailed images showing the sky at a wavelength never previously investigated. Our main aim with Planck is to observe the cosmic microwave background, the fading glow of the Big Bang. However the emissions from our own Galaxy, the so-called foregrounds, restrict our ability to do that. When these high-frequency images are combined with those from the low-frequency instrument, key components of which were built here at Jodrell Bank, we will be able to accurately separate the foreground. In addition to enabling extremely precise measurements of the microwave background, this will result in all sorts of new science on the physical processes at work in our Galaxy."
Dr Clive Dickinson, also of The University of Manchester, said: "These new multi-frequency images from Planck will revolutionise our understanding of the radio and sub-mm sky. I'm amazed by the beautiful structures that they reveal. It is often difficult to make radio images showing such a wide range of scales and brightnesses, but these Planck results are as good as any I've seen from telescopes working in other parts of the spectrum."
Dr David Parker, Director of Space Science and Exploration at the British National Space Centre ( BNSC ), said: "Less than a year since it was launched, Planck is producing some spectacular results. The Planck spacecraft is just one of a family of cutting edge scientific missions in which the UK is already playing a major role. I'm looking forward to fresh discoveries and continued involvement in such exciting missions with the forthcoming creation of a UK executive space agency."
Notes for editors The Planck satellite was launched along with the Herschel satellite on 14th May 2009 from Kourou, French Guiana, on an Ariane 5 rocket. During its 6 week journey to its observation point around Lagrange point 2, 1.5 million km ( 1 million miles ) from Earth, the scientific instruments were cooled to extremely low temperatures, making Planck the coldest object in space at just 0.1° above absolute zero ( -273.15°C ). It took around 6 weeks for Planck to cool down to these low temperatures, after which a further 6 weeks were spent calibrating the instruments.
UK role in Planck The UK is playing a major role in the Planck mission, with funding from the Science and Technology Facilities Council ( STFC ). The UK is the second largest financial contributor to the ESA Science Programme which builds and launches space missions such as Planck using leading-edge technology from the UK space industry. In addition, STFC has invested £17.4M to build instrumentation for Planck.
A number of UK institutes and companies form part of the consortium building the two focal plane instruments, HFI ( High Frequency Instrument ) and LFI ( Low Frequency Instrument ). The Jodrell Bank Observatory at The University of Manchester has produced critical elements of the LFI receiver modules. Cardiff University, STFC RAL and SEA have been involved with hardware development for HFI, while various UK research groups including Imperial College London and University of Cambridge form the London Planck Analysis Centre and Cambridge Planck Analysis Centre. These groups are involved with data analysis and simulation for the HFI data analysis and simulation software.
Jodrell Bank's role in Planck Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics ( JBCA ) is directly involved with the two lowest frequencies of the Low Frequency Instrument, the 30 and 44 GHz radiometers. These have 4 and 6 detectors respectively, operating at 20K ( -253.15°C or -423.67°F ). The resolution on the sky will be 33 and 23 arc minutes, and the sensitivity 1.6 and 2.4 micro K ( 1s, over 12 months ). The radiometers were built by a European collaboration: the cryogenic low noise amplifiers which are the heart of the radiometers were developed at Jodrell Bank, with help from the University of Birmingham and The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. Once built they were integrated with the receiver backends ( University of Cantabria, Santander and Barcelona ), the feed horns ( University of Milan, Italy ), the phase switches ( Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Tenerife ), and waveguides ( designed in Italy and built in the USA ). The radiometers were assembled in Milan by the company Laben, then delivered to the European Space Agency for installation in the Planck Spacecraft.
Some members of JBCA are involved in the other focal instrument, HFI. First at Cardiff University and now at the University of Manchester, they have played a major role in the design, development and calibration of the Focal Plane Unit, in particular the cold optics, in collaboration with the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale - France, Maynooth University - Ireland and JPL/Caltech - USA.
The Science and Technology Facilities Council ( STFC ) has invested £13M in Herschel and £17.4M in Planck.
Contacts For more information please contact
Dr Althea Wilkinson, The University of Manchester, +44 ( 0 )161 275 4184.
Jan Tauber, Planck Project Scientist Research and Scientific Support Department, Directorate of Science and Robotic Exploration European Space Agency
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