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- The Planck satellite launched in 2009 and completed its mission 4.5 years later in 2013. Data from the Planck satellite challenges our understanding of the Universe, suggesting that the Universe may be different on scales larger than those we can directly observe.
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- Planck refines our knowledge of the Universe’s composition and evolution.
New maps provide excellent evidence for our standard model of cosmology
Planck dates the Universe at 13.82 billion years old
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- Most accurate values for the ingredients of the Universe puts normal matter contributing just 4.9% of the mass/energy density of the Universe and dark matter making up 26.8% which is nearly a fifth more than the previous estimate.
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- The first all-sky picture of the oldest light in our Universe, imprinted on the sky when it was just 380,000 years old is a cosmic microwave background radiation. The CMB shows tiny temperature fluctuations that correspond to regions of slightly different densities at very early times, representing the seeds of all future structure that is the stars and galaxies of today.
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- Planck’s measured power spectrum of temperature fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background shows the temperature fluctuations at different angular scales on the sky.
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- At angular scales larger than six degrees, there is one data point that falls well outside the range of allowed models. These anomalies in the cosmic microwave background pattern challenge the very foundations of cosmology, suggesting that some aspects of the standard model of cosmology may need a rethink.
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- Planck is helping us place the vital pieces of a jigsaw that could give us a full picture of the evolution of our Universe, rewriting the textbooks along the way. The CMB temperature fluctuations detected by Planck confirm once more that the relatively simple picture provided by the standard model is an amazingly good description of the Universe. The properties of the hot and cold regions of the map provide information about the composition and evolution of the Universe.
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- Normal matter that makes up stars and galaxies contributes just 4.9% of the mass/energy density of the Universe. Dark matter, which has thus far only been detected indirectly by its gravitational influence, makes up 26.8%, nearly a fifth more than the previous estimate. Conversely, dark energy, a mysterious force thought to be responsible for accelerating the expansion of the Universe, accounts for slightly less than previously thought, at around 69%.
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- The Planck data also set a new value for the rate at which the Universe is expanding today, known as the Hubble constant. At 67.3 kilometers / sec / Megaparsec. This equivalent to 49,300 miles per hour per million light years of distance. it is significantly different from the value measured from relatively nearby galaxies. This somewhat slower expansion implies that the Universe is also a little older than previously thought, at 13.8 billion years.
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- The analysis also gives strong support for theories of “inflation”, a very brief but crucial early phase during the first tiny fraction of a second of the Universe’s existence. As well as explaining many properties of the Universe as a whole, this initial expansion caused the ripples in the CMB that we see today.
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- This high resolution of Planck’s map confirms that the tiny variations in the density of the early Universe match those predicted by inflation.
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- Because the precision of Planck’s map is so high, it also reveals some peculiar unexplained features that may well require new physics to be understood. Amongst the most surprising findings are that the fluctuations in the CMB over large scales do not exactly match those predicted by the standard model.
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- This anomaly adds to those observed by previous experiments, and confirmed by Planck, including an asymmetry in the average temperatures on opposite hemispheres of the sky, and a cold spot that extends over a patch of sky that is much larger than expected.
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- One way to explain the anomalies is to propose that the Universe is in fact not the same in all directions on a larger scale than we can observe. In this scenario, the light rays from the CMB may have taken a more complicated route through the Universe than previously understood, resulting in some of the unusual patterns observed today.
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- This new research from the Planck Mission is refining what we know about our universe, making more precise measurements of matter, including dark matter, and how it is clumped together.
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- One cosmic property appears to have changed with this new batch of data, the length of time in which our universe remained in darkness during its infant stages. A preliminary analysis of the Planck data suggests that this epoch, a period known as the “Dark Ages” that took place before the first stars and other objects ignited, lasted more than 100 million years or so longer than thought.
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- Specifically, the Dark Ages ended 550 million years after the Big Bang that created our universe, later than previous estimates by other telescopes of 300 to 400 million years. Research is ongoing to confirm this finding.
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- The Planck data supports the idea that the mysterious force known as Dark Energy is acting against gravity to push our universe apart at ever-increasing speeds.
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- The new Planck catalog of images now has more than 1,500 clusters of galaxies observed throughout the universe, the largest catalog of this type ever made. These galaxy clusters act as beacons at the crossroads of huge filamentary structures in a cosmic web. They help scientists trace our recent cosmic evolution.
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- A new analysis of more than 400 of these galaxy clusters gives us a new look at their masses, which range between 100 to 1,000 times that of our Milky Way galaxy. In one of the first-of-its-kind efforts, they have resolved the cluster masses by observing how the clusters bend background microwave light. The results narrow in on the overall mass of hundreds of clusters. This is a huge step forward in better understanding dark matter and dark energy.
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- Planck captured ancient light that has traveled billions of years to reach us. This light originated during a time when the flame of our universe cooled enough that light was no longer impeded by charged particles and could travel freely.
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- Planck’s splotchy maps of this light show where matter had just begun to clump together into the seeds of the galaxies we see around us today. By analyzing the patterns of clumps, scientists can learn how conditions even earlier in the universe, just moments after its birth, set the clumping process in motion.
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- The scientists can study how the ancient light has changed during its long journey to reach us, learning about the entire history of the cosmos.
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- A big challenge for Planck scientists is sifting through all the long-wavelength light in our universe to pick out the signature from just the ancient cosmic microwave background. Much of our galaxy gives off light of the same wavelength, blocking our view of the relic radiation.
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- But, what might be one scientist’s trash is another’s treasure. Light generated from within our galaxy, the same light subtracted from the ancient signal, comes to life gloriously in the new image. Gas, dust and magnetic field lines make up a frenzy of activity that shapes how stars form.
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- The more we can see the more e can learn.
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--------------------------------- Other reviews available;
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- 2745 - PLANCK - satellite measures an expanding universe? Astronomers using X-ray data from these orbiting observatories studied hundreds of galaxy clusters, the largest structures in the universe held together by gravity, and how their apparent properties differ across the sky.
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- This new discovery flies in the face of one of the pillars of cosmology, the study of the history and fate of the entire universe. Cosmology up to now maintained that the universe is ‘isotropic,’ meaning the same in all directions.
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- This previous Review 2745 lists 7 more reviews about Planck measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation.
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- July 25, 2020 2779
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