ESA's Planck mission has delivered its first all-sky image. It
not only provides new insight into the way stars and galaxies
form but also tells us how the universe itself came to life
after the Big Bang. |The microwave sky as seen by Planck| ''This
is the moment that Planck was conceived for,'' says ESA director
of Science and Robotic Exploration, David Southwood. ''We're not
giving the answer. We are opening the door to an Eldorado where
scientists can seek the nuggets that will lead to deeper
understanding of how our Universe came to be and how it works
now. The image itself and its remarkable quality is a tribute to
the engineers who built and have operated Planck. Now the
scientific harvest must begin.'' The microwave sky as seen by
Planck with previous releases From the closest portions of the
Milky Way to the furthest reaches of space and time, the new
all-sky Planck image is an extraordinary treasure chest of new
data for astronomers. The main disc of our Galaxy runs across
the centre of the image. Im