Planck
LocationSpace (L2)
Year2009
Size2 instruments
TypeSpace telescope
About Planck
A European mission that mapped the cosmic microwave background, the afterglow of the Big Bang, in unprecedented detail. Launched with Herschel in May 2009. Refined the age of the universe to about 13.8 billion years. Some detectors were cooled to a tenth of a degree above absolute zero. Switched off in 2013.
Related Satellites
Hubble Space Telescope
One of the most important scientific instruments ever built. Has made over 1.5 million observations....
WMAP
The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. Mapped tiny temperature variations in the cosmic microwave...
COBE
The Cosmic Background Explorer. Showed that the cosmic microwave background matches a near-perfect b...
Euclid
A European mission to map the dark universe. Launched on a Falcon 9 in July 2023. Surveys billions o...