Chalnoth
Sep17-09, 07:37 AM
The Planck team have put out a press release their (very preliminary) results for the First Light Survey:
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Planck/SEM5CMFWNZF_0.html
The basic gist: the instrument is working, and it's already producing higher-resolution and lower-noise maps than WMAP offers at the same frequency bands, and Planck offers a much wider range of frequencies (WMAP = 5 channels from 23GHz to 94GHz, Planck = 9 channels from 30GHz to 857GHz). No science results yet, as there are many things that can't be done until Planck surveys the whole sky at least twice.
More in-depth information is available here:
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=45543
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Planck/SEM5CMFWNZF_0.html
The basic gist: the instrument is working, and it's already producing higher-resolution and lower-noise maps than WMAP offers at the same frequency bands, and Planck offers a much wider range of frequencies (WMAP = 5 channels from 23GHz to 94GHz, Planck = 9 channels from 30GHz to 857GHz). No science results yet, as there are many things that can't be done until Planck surveys the whole sky at least twice.
More in-depth information is available here:
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=45543