The European Space Agency (ESA), aided by NASA, has released a composite image - a new map - of our Milky Way galaxy as part of new data sent from ESA's Planck mission, according to a press release from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
Magnetic fields, layers of dust and hot gasses blend in the festive photo. "Planck can see the old light from our universe's birth, gas and dust in our own galaxy, and pretty much everything in between, either directly or by its effect on the old light," said Charles Lawrence, the U.S. project scientist for the mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., according to the press release.
The data from Planck was released on Feb 5 and has provided new and improve data on the beginnings of the cosmos, the universe and dark matter. The Planck data has redefined the universe's "Dark Ages," which was the epoch of universal infancy, according to the press release. According to new information, the darkness lasted 100 million years more than previously thought - 550 million years after the Big Bang.
Planck has also shed some light on dark matter. The new data from Planck supports "the idea that the mysterious force known as dark energy is acting against gravity to push our universe apart at ever-increasing speeds," according to the press release. Those that don't believe dark matter exists say that Albert Einstein's theory of relativity reigns supreme, provided there are some tweaks to the theory.
"So far Einstein is looking pretty good," said U.S. Planck team member from University of California, Berkeley Martin White, according to the press release. "The dark energy hypothesis is holding up very well, but this is not the end of the story."
An interactive version of the map is available here.
