A STUNNING image has been revealed that shows our ENTIRE universe.

fireblade

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The amazing picture is dominated by large segments of our Milky Way Galaxy.

A bright horizontal light - the galaxy's main disc - runs the full length of the image.

This is the plane in which the Sun and the Earth reside.

The picture is the first full-sky image from Europe's Planck telescope which was sent into space last year to survey the "oldest light" in the cosmos.

Dr Jan Tauber, a Planck project scientist, said: "It's a spectacular picture; it's a thing of beauty".

It took the £496million observatory just over six months to assemble the map.

British astronomers helped reveal the unique pictures.

Pioneering

Professor Peter Ade from Cardiff University, part of the satellite design and construction team, was delighted with the result.

He said: "It is a fantastic result for this unique satellite, and demonstrates once again that you can only do pioneering science by using advanced and therefore high-risk technologies.

"At last we can see the realisation of the full potential of Planck, showing in exquisite detail our own Milky Way galaxy superimposed on the relic fireball background."

"From the closest portions of the Milky Way to the furthest reaches of space and time, the new all-sky image offers an extraordinary treasure chest of new data for astronomers."

The main disc of our own galaxy, The Milky Way, runs across the centre of the image.

Immediately striking are the streamers of cold dust reaching above and below the Milky Way.

This galactic web is where new stars are being formed and Planck has found many locations where individual stars are edging toward birth or just beginning their cycle of development.

The satellite was launched by the European Space Agency - and sent nearly a million miles into space to record the origins of the universe.

The Planck observatory's job was to look at the age, contents and evolution of the cosmos by studying the heat left behind by the Big Bang.

The telescope was named in honour of German scientist Max Planck who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1918.

view the amasing picture at this link.

Entire universe is revealed by Planck telescope | The Sun |News

NASA - Home
 
I thought they taught us in school that the universe is infinite ?

Lovely picture though, 596 million for a telescope... I could borrow them my boys ;)

Mickie
 
I thought they taught us in school that the universe is infinite ?

Lovely picture though, 596 million for a telescope... I could borrow them my boys ;)

Mickie

Now the popular theory is that there IS a limit somewhere, and when it's reached, the universe will start to contract...
 
the universe is still expanding

saw it on the discovery channel last night about the hubble teliscope it is expected to fall back down to earth in 2011
i think
 
Non of it matters, in 5 billion years the sun will become a red giant and we will all be burnt to a crisp.

Looking on the bright side that is.
 
It's a stunning image. Thanks for sharing but the title is misleading.

Its a photo of our galaxy and surrounding space,not the entire universe.

Here's a quote from the article:

"What you see is the structure of our galaxy in gas and dust, which tells us an awful lot about what is going on in the neighbourhood of the Sun; and it tells us a lot about the way galaxies form when we compare this to other galaxies," Professor Andrew Jaffe, a Planck team member from Imperial College London, told BBC News."
 
I surprised The Sun's definition of the universe wasn't

england-wales-map.jpg
 
aye, it's still expanding and infact it's going faster still and things are accelerating away
 
Nice pic..The wife was trying to tell me about it but couldn't find the pic...
 
it doesnt show the entire universe - or even galaxy - you cant see my house on it - which I'm fairly sure is in the univese somewhere
 
Non of it matters, in 5 billion years the sun will become a red giant and we will all be burnt to a crisp.

Looking on the bright side that is.

well we have always wanted a brighter future
 
nice picture but I'm still wondering whether it is still true that given all this, we still have not explored the bottom of our deepest oceans yet?
 
How can this show the entire universe when you can't see what lies behind it or is that not part of it ??????

Great picture though.

Its a photo of our galaxy and surrounding space,not the entire universe.
 
Its a photo of our galaxy and surrounding space,not the entire universe.

Spot on m8, our Galaxy isn't that big and yet it's taking up over half the picture, no way it's the whole universe
 
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