Planck
A European Space Agency spacecraft designed to search for tiny irregularities
in the cosmic microwave
background over the whole sky with unprecedented sensitivity and angular
resolution. Planck will be ten times more sensitive then anything previously
flown. Named after the quantum theorist Max Planck
(1858-1947), it is expected to provide a wealth of information relevant
to several key cosmological and astrophysical issues, such as theories of
the early universe and the origin of cosmic structure. Planck was launched
on May 14, 2009, at the same time as the Herschel
Space Observatory. Like Herschel, it will operate from an an orbit around
the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrangian orbit at a distance from Earth of 1.5 million
km.
Related category
• SATELLITES
AND SPACE PROBES
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