The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
Go to topicThank you for liking
You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!
Filamentary structures are apparent on large scales (as shown in the Planck image, right) and small scales (as seen in the Herschel image of a region in the Aquila constellation, left) in the Milky Way. The Planck image, covering a portion of the sky about 55°, was obtained by the High Frequency Instrument at a frequency of 857 GHz (corresponding to a wavelength of 350 micrometres). The dark horizontal band is the plane of our Galaxy, seen in cross-section from our vantage point. The colours represent the intensity of heat radiation by dust. The Planck image was obtained during the First Planck All-Sky Survey, which began in mid-August 2009 and is being completed now. By mid-March 2010, 98% of the sky had been observed by Planck, and 100% sky coverage is expected by late May 2010.