ESA - Space Science - Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation

Space Science

About Space Science ESA's 'Cosmic Vision'Science & Technology in-depth

Multimedia

Science images Science videos Animations Downloads Sounds from space

Media centre

Press Releases Press kits ESA Television

Resources

Reference section Glossary FAQs

Science missions

Services

Help Legal disclaimer Comments Subscribe

RSS feeds

ESA Sci on Twitter

Article Images

Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation

Back to article

Simulation of cosmic ray background, as Planck would see it

Download:

HI-RES JPEG (Size: 255 kb)

HI RES GIF (Size: 139 kb)

The Cosmic Microwave Background is visible in all directions with (almost) the same intensity. This was confirmed by the COBE satellite, which measured (almost) the same temperature of 2.7 Kelvin everywhere on the sky.

However, the very existence of other galaxies points to the fact that there should be very small changes in the measured 'temperature' of the CMB. These changes, or fluctuations, would have provided the seeds for the formation of the galaxies that we see today.

Planck will be able to measure these tiny fluctuations, up to 5 millionths of a degree.

Credits: ESA

Last update: 9 May 2008

More about...

Planck overview