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Planck
Planck is the European Space Agency (ESA) survey mission to measure
the anisotropy and polarization of the cosmic microwave background
(CMB) radiation. The Planck satellite was launched in 2009. The survey
will be completed in 2012, after which there is a proprietary period
of two years, for analyzing the data and deriving the scientific
results of the mission. After that, the Planck data will be released
to the public domain. In addition to the cosmic background radiation,
the Planck data are being used to study the Milky Way, other galaxies,
and clusters of galaxies.
The coldest interstellar cloud cores within the Milky Way are a key to
understanding the birth of stars as it is from these clouds that new
stars are still being formed. Because of their extremely low
temperatures, the cloud cores are still poorly known objects. However,
they emit most of their radiation in the submillimetre region of the
electromagnetic spectrum making them an ideal target for the Planck
mission. Astronomers have compiled the first unbiased, all-sky survey
of compact cold dust clouds - the Cold Clump Catalogue of Planck
Objects (C3PO) - that contains over 10,000 objects. Part of the
catalogue was published in January 2011 as part of the Planck Early
Release Compact Source Catalogue (ERCSC).
A few hundred of the cores that were located by Planck are
studied in more detail within the Herschel key programme Galactic Cold
Cores. Herschel is currently the largest space borne telescope and its
high resolution measurements enable the researchers to map the
internal structure of the clumps and to determine their physical
characteristics. This sheds light on the initial conditions of the star
formation process and helps to improve theories of star
formation.
Links:
Cold Cores project:
https://wiki.helsinki.fi/display/PlanckHerschel/The+Cold+Cores
Astronomical studies with the Planck and Herschel satellites, (in Finnish):
https://wiki.helsinki.fi/display/PlanckHerschel/The+Cold+Cores
Personnel:
Department of Physics, Division of geophysics and astronomy
- Mika Juvela, lecturer, principal investigator of the project Galactic Cold Cores
- Nathalie Ysard, post doctoral researcher
- Johanna Malinen, graduate student
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