Basic Information
What is this?A strip of sky observed during Planck’s first light survey, superimposed on a view of the sky at visible wavelengths
Where is it in the sky?The strip runs around the ring of the sky which Planck was observing during its first light survey
How big is it?In the first two weeks, Planck observed around 10% of the sky
How far away is it?Planck s observing the Comsic Microwave Background, which is light released just 400,000 years after the Big Bang
What do the colours represent?Red colours show hotter emission, particularly in the Galactic Plane, while blue areas are cooler

This image shows the strip of sky imaged during Planck’s two week “First Light Survey” in August 2009.  The background image shows the whole sky in visible light, with the plane of our Galaxy running across the middle.  The coloured strip is Planck’s view of the sky at a wavelength of 3mm (a frequency of 100 GHz), covering around 10% of the sky.  Most of the strip is dominated by the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), but the Galaxy can be seen across the middle.

The same patch of sky as seen by Planck two instruments, showing only very subtle variations between the two. Image credit: ESA / LFI / HFI
A patch of sky showing the Galactic plane at all nine of Planck’s frequencies. At low frequencies, gas and electrons dominate, in the middle the CMB shos through faintly, while at high frequencies cold dust is seen. Image credits: ESA / LFI / HFI.

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Detailed Information

Object Name: 
First Light Survey
Image Scale: 
The entire sky
Instrument: 
LFI and HFI
Observation Date/Time: 
Sun, 19/09/2010 – 13:05
Date of Release: 
17/09/2009