The Planck Satellite Matthew Trimble 10/1/12

Useful Physics Observing at a redshift = looking at light from a very distant object that was emitted a long time ago The ‘temperature’ of the CMB is the temperature of a blackbody that would emit the energy spectrum seen by the photons Fun Fact: CMB is most ideal blackbody spectrum ever recorded

Need For Planck Space vs. Ground telescopes Hubble: Launched 1990 WMAP: Launched 2001, now in graveyard orbit Planck: Launched 2009 Better resolution of CMB

Spacecraft Design ~4.2 m high X 4.2 m wide 1.95 tonnes Three stage cooling system and shielding from Sun to minimize background radiation 1.9 m x 1.5 m primary mirror Lifetime: 15+ months, dependant on cooling system degradation Propulsion: 12 20N thrusters, 4 1N thrusters

Special Orbit Lissajous Orbit around L2 Propulsion only needed for corrections

Instruments Telescope: 1.9 x 1.5 m primary mirror, effective aperture of 1.5 m. Low Frequency Instrument: observes wavelengths from 3.9 mm to 11.1 mm. High Frequency Instrument: observes from.3 mm to 3.6 mm.

Cosmic Microwave Background After Big Bang, radiation and matter were coupled (no light emitted) As expanding universe cooled, it reached 3000K at matter began thermally radiating photons This radiation is the CMB, which has now increased wavelength to the microwave, and ‘cooled’ to ~2.7K CMB temperature is not homogenous, but early measurements were not able to detect the tiny fluctuations

Large Scale Properties of Universe Large scale properties: density, number of atoms in visible universe, etc. Planck will be able to accurately measure how certain properties (density) evolved over time. That data allows other properties (# atoms) to be determined with low uncertainty.

Dark Matter Doesn’t interact with radiation, therefore it is literally dark. Presence can only be inferred by gravitational interactions with luminous matter. Planck will detect the gravitational lensing the CMB undergoes due to dark matter.

Inflation The theorized extremely rapid expansion of the early universe. Currently explains much of the Universe’s features. Planck will investigate possible causes of inflation, and try to determine if expansion will continue, or if the universe will eventually collapse in a Big Crunch.

Primordial Gravitational Waves Hypothesized to exist during inflation. Gravitational waves carry information about the event that triggered the wave. Detecting these ancient waves through the CMB would give strong evidence for Inflation.

Inhomogeneities of Early Space Our universe is not homogenous: full of galaxy clusters and large voids. Likely, there were inhomogeneities very early on, which formed into the complex structures we have today.

Microwave Study of Galaxies Milky Way: create the first map the cold dust distributed along spiral arms, and the first detailed, 3D map of the Milky Way’s magnetic field. Other: Using the Sunyaev- Zel'dovich effect, Planck can catalogue distant galaxy clusters.

Conclusion “Planck will measure the fluctuations of the CMB with an accuracy set by fundamental astrophysical limits.” Planck has the capabilities to verify a large portion of cosmology and particle physics that has yet to be figured out. Data will not be released until 2013, but the astrophysical community overall expects good results from Planck.

References post-doug-finkbeiner-on-fermi-bubbles-and-microwave-haze/ post-doug-finkbeiner-on-fermi-bubbles-and-microwave-haze/ 8. Background-Radiation htmlhttp:// Background-Radiation html 9. satellites-fi.htmlhttp://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/07/scienceshot-planck- satellites-fi.html