Vol. 576
In section 6. Interstellar and circumstellar matter

Planck intermediate results. XIX. An overview of the polarized thermal emission from Galactic dust

by Planck Collaboration, A&A 576, A104


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This paper presents linear polarization data for the entire sky, as seen by the ESA Planck satellite at 353 GHz. The Planck data reveals the distribution of line-of-sight magnetic fields in the Milky Way, as probed by Galactic dust. This constitutes an important data set for fundamental research topics, such as Galactic dust, Galactic magnetic fields, and CMB foregrounds. The paper highlights various regions of interest in the sky — in particular the dense, star-forming interstellar medium — demonstrates the existence of narrow "filaments" of angle dispersion, and argues that the data are generally consistent with previous studies of dust, polarization, and magnetic fields.