APOD: 2018 July 22 - Planck Maps the Microwave Background

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                                 2018 July 22
                                      [2]
                    Planck Maps the Microwave Background
      Image Credit: European Space Agency [3] , Planck Collaboration [4]

Explanation: What is our universe made of? To help find out, ESA launched the
Planck satellite [5]  from 2009 to 2013 to map, in unprecedented detail,
slight temperature differences on the oldest optical surface [6]  known -- the
background sky when our universe first became transparent [7]  to light.
Visible in all directions, this cosmic microwave background [8] is a complex
tapestry that could only show the hot and cold patterns [9]  observed were the
universe to be composed of specific types of energy [10] that evolved in
specific ways. The final results [11] , reported last week [12] , confirm
again that most of our universe is mostly composed of mysterious and
unfamiliar dark energy [13] , and that even most of the remaining matter
energy is strangely dark [14] . Additionally, the "final" 2018 Planck data
impressively peg [15] the age of the universe at about 13.8 billion years and
the local expansion rate [16]  -- called the Hubble constant -- at 67.4 (+/-
0.5) km/sec/Mpc. Oddly, this early-universe determined Hubble constant [17] is
slightly lower than that determined by other methods in the late-universe [18]
, creating a tension [19]  that is causing much discussion [20]  and
speculation [21] .

                Tomorrow's picture: Fermi Science Finals [22]

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    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [34] (MTU [35] ) & Jerry Bonnell [36]
                                  (UMCP [37] )
          NASA Official:  Phillip Newman Specific rights apply [38] .
              NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices [39]
              A service of: ASD [40]  at NASA [41]  / GSFC [42]
                           & Michigan Tech. U. [43]
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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1807/CMB2018_Planck_4672.jpg
  [3] http://www.esa.int/
  [4] http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Scien...
  [5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_satellite
  [6] ap001029.html
  [7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recombination_%2...
  [8] http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/CMB.html
  [9] http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.p...
  [10] http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008AmJPh..76.....
  [11] https://arxiv.org/abs/1807.06209
  [12] https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/planck
  [13] https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-a...
  [14] ap111003.html
  [15]
http://sci.esa.int/planck/
60499-from-an-almost-perfect-universe-to-the-best-of-both-worlds/
  [16] http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_expansi...
  [17] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble%27s_law
  [18] http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2018ApJ...861.....
  [19]
https://www.barkbusters.co.uk/images/articles...
7a4120f095480e9f2a2ad2a165d90313.jpg
  [20] https://astrobites.org/2017/10/13/the-hubble-...
  [21]
https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/...
scientists-still-dont-know-how-fast-the-universe-is-expanding/
  [22] ap180723.html
  [23] ap180721.html
  [24] archivepix.html
  [25] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [26] lib/aptree.html
  [27] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apo...
  [28] calendar/allyears.html
  [29] /apod.rss
  [30] lib/edlinks.html
  [31] lib/about_apod.html
  [32] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?dat...
  [33] ap180723.html
  [34] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [35] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [36] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnel...
  [37] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [38] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [39] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Priv...
  [40] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [41] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [42] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [43] http://www.mtu.edu/

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