- Planck
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/plahngk/, n.Max Karl Ernst /mahks kahrddl erddnst/, 1858-1947, German physicist: Nobel prize 1918.
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▪ European Space Agency satellitea European Space Agency satellite, to be launched in 2009, designed to measure the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the residual radiation left over from the big bang (big-bang model), at a much greater sensitivity and resolution than was provided by the U.S. Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP)) (WMAP). It is named in honour of German physicist Max Planck (Planck, Max), a pioneer in quantum physics (quantum mechanics) and in the theory of blackbody radiation. Launch is set for 2009 on an Ariane 5 rocket that will also carry the Herschel Space Observatory, an infrared space telescope.Like WMAP, Planck will be positioned near the second Lagrangian point (L2), a gravitational balance point between Earth and the Sun and 1.5 million km (0.9 million miles) opposite the Sun from Earth. The spacecraft will move in a controlled Lissajous pattern (Lissajous figure) around L2 rather than “hovering” there. This will isolate the spacecraft from radio emissions from Earth and the moon without having to place it on a more distant trajectory that would complicate tracking. The spacecraft will spin once per minute and shift its rotational axis every 15 minutes to shield itself from the Sun. Two complete scans of the sky will be made in the planned 15-month mission.Planck's instruments will cover radio emissions from 30 to 857 gigahertz and will be able to measure temperature fluctuations in the CMB with a precision of about 2 parts per million at an angular resolution of about 10 minutes of arc. Temperature fluctuations in turn will indicate density fluctuations from which the first galaxies (galaxy) formed. The high angular resolution and the polarization of the instruments will allow Planck to observe gravitational lensing in the CMB and to measure the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect, a distortion of the CMB caused by galaxy clusters.Dave Dooling, Jr.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
