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| Planck (2013) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Planck |
| Mission type | Space observatory |
| Operator | European Space Agency |
| Launch date | 14 May 2009 |
| Mission duration | 2009–2013 (nominal) |
| Instruments | High Frequency Instrument, Low Frequency Instrument |
| Mission objectives | Map cosmic microwave background |
| Previous mission | Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe |
| Next mission | James Webb Space Telescope |
Planck (2013) The 2013 data release from the European Space Agency's Planck mission presented full-mission maps and cosmological parameter estimates derived from observations of the cosmic microwave background conducted by the High Frequency Instrument and Low Frequency Instrument. The release synthesized analyses from instrument teams including collaborators from institutions such as NASA, CNES, Max Planck Society, University of Cambridge, and California Institute of Technology, and had immediate implications for models discussed at conferences like the International Astronomical Union assemblies and workshops at CERN.
The Planck mission was selected under ESA's Horizon 2000 programme and developed by a consortium led by the European Space Agency with major contributions from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, and Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Launched from Guiana Space Centre aboard an Ariane 5 rocket, Planck was placed near the second Lagrange point (L2) to perform high-sensitivity measurements of the cosmic microwave background. The mission concept followed earlier space missions such as Cosmic Background Explorer and Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe and interacted with ground-based experiments like Atacama Cosmology Telescope and South Pole Telescope through data cross-checks and joint analyses.
The 2013 release provided full-mission frequency maps, component-separated maps, likelihood codes, and cosmological parameter chains prepared by the Planck Collaboration. Products included maps across frequency bands tied to calibrations referencing Faraday rotation standards and celestial calibrators like Jupiter and Tau A. The data distribution was coordinated with major archives including the European Space Agency Science Data Centre and institutional repositories at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy to enable usage by teams from Princeton University, Imperial College London, and University of Chicago.
Planck's 2013 cosmological results refined key parameters of the Lambda-CDM model including the Hubble constant, matter density, and spectral index of primordial perturbations, and constrained inflationary models discussed at venues such as Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics. The release reported a lower value of the Hubble constant than local-distance-ladder measurements by groups led by Adam Riess and teams using Type Ia supernovae, prompting comparisons with approaches by Freedman and analyses from Hubble Space Telescope. Planck 2013 strengthened constraints on parameters relevant to models by Andrei Linde and Alan Guth and influenced theoretical work at Institute for Advanced Study and Perimeter Institute on inflationary potentials and reheating scenarios.
Instrumentation described the dual-instrument approach: the cryogenic High Frequency Instrument built by a consortium including Airbus Defence and Space and bolometer technologies developed at Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie, and the Low Frequency Instrument based on radiometers from Thales Alenia Space with hardware contributions from Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica. Data processing pipelines developed by teams at Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, University of Rome, and University of Oxford performed mapmaking, beam characterization, and foreground separation, employing methods compared with algorithms from HEALPix developers and analyses used in BICEP2 follow-ups.
The 2013 Planck release superseded aspects of results from WMAP while provoking debate relative to local measurements from groups using the Hubble Space Telescope and distance scales set by the Cepheid variables community at Carnegie Observatories. Subsequent releases and missions, including later Planck data releases and observations from Atacama Cosmology Telescope and South Pole Telescope, and later space missions such as Euclid (spacecraft) and James Webb Space Telescope, provided further cross-checks and refinements to the cosmological picture advanced by the 2013 products.
Planck 2013 had broad scientific impact across collaborations at institutions like Harvard University, Princeton University, California Institute of Technology, Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, and University of Tokyo, driving publications in journals such as Astronomy & Astrophysics and Physical Review Letters. Controversies centered on parameter tensions with local measurements from teams led by Adam Riess and methodological debates involving foreground treatment discussed at meetings like the Kavli Frontiers of Science symposium and workshops at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The release also influenced particle-physics constraints relevant to work at CERN and Fermilab on neutrino mass limits and dark-matter scenarios considered in publications from Stanford University and MIT.