MISSIONE SPAZIALE PLANCK: VERSO L’ALBA DEL TEMPO

Abstract

The deepest image of the universe accessible to our observation comes from the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the electromagnetic radiation released when the age of the universe was only 0.003% of its present value. The European Space Agency Planck mission, launched in 2009, has produced a full-sky map of the CMB with an unprecedented level of detail. The two cryogenic instruments on board the satellite cover a wide spectral region (9 frequency bands between 30 and 857 GHz) to ensure an accurate separation of the cosmological radiation from local foreground emissions. The results of the Planck data analysis are in excellent agreement with the standard cosmological model ô€€€CDM, which is specified by just 6 parameters. The accurate measurement of the full angular power spectrum of the anisotropies (all multipoles 2 < â„“ < 2500) has allowed a high precision (~1%) extraction of the cosmological parameters that determine the composition, the expansion, and geometry of the universe. The results mentioned in this discussion have been published by the Planck Collaboration in 2014, and refer to the nominal mission (the first 15.5. months of observation in temperature), while the analysis of the full mission (4 years in temperature and polarization) is currently in progress.