One of the research team leaders is Prof. Krzysztof Górski, Polish scientist from the University of Warsaw Astronomical Observatory and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California (U.S.).

Cosmologists have been waiting for the results of the Planck mission for a few years. Partial results have already been published, and is now a map of background radiation temperature distribution for the whole of the sky has been presented, made on the basis of data from the first 15.5 months of observation.

The map shows the universe as it was at the age of 380,000 years. At this stage, the universe was filled with a hot mixture of protons, electrons and photons. When protons and electrons combined to form atoms, the light could start to travel freely. As the Universe expands, the light is now seen in the microwave range, corresponding to a temperature of 2.7 degrees above absolute zero. Astronomers call this light microwave background radiation, or relic radiation.

Very small temperature fluctuations are observed in the background radiation, that correspond to areas with slightly different density of the universe at that time. Due to these differences, galaxies and all the modern structure of the cosmos were formed. According to modern cosmological models fluctuations formed just after the Big Bang, and extended to large scale during a brief phase of very rapid expansion of the universe, known as inflation.

Planck mission objective was to map fluctuations in the background radiation for the whole sky. The resulting resolution is much better than the results from earlier studies, for example with the WMAP satellite. In general, these results confirm the modern image of the universe accepted by cosmologists and called the standard model.

Recent results somewhat, however, "add years" to the universe, namely less than 100 million years - it is 13.81 billion years old, with an accuracy of 50 million years. The data also indicate that there is a little less of the mysterious dark energy (a few percentage points), accounting for about 68 percent energy of the universe.

For small angular scales the results correspond perfectly to the standard model, but for large scales unexpected anomalies have been detected.

"The observed large-scale asymmetry of the background radiation is not compatible with the standard model, which on the other hand is perfectly confirmed on a +local+ observational scale. This discrepancy requires a much more creative extension, if not modification, of the standard model" - Prof. Krzysztof Górski explained the importance of new research results.

"One half of the sky is different from the other in this respect. This implies the existence of a preferred direction in space, which is a strange result. We need to carefully check the items that do not fit, because they may contain clues about the existence of a +new physics+" - believes George Efstathiou, University of Cambridge, from the mission science team.

Planck Mission is carried out by the European Space Agency (ESA), and its partner is an American NASA. The satellite is more modern than its predecessors (WMAP, COBE). Launched in 2009, it carries out observations of space in the microwave range. The final results of its mission will be announced in 2014. (PAP)

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