Zodiacal light emission in the PLANCK mission

¹ INAF – OATs, via G.B. Tiepolo 11, 34131 Trieste, Italy e-mail: [maris;fogliani]@oats.inaf.it
² INAF – IASF Bologna, via P. Gobetti, 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy e-mail: burigana@iasfbo.inaf.it

Received: 28 June 2005
Accepted: 27 January 2006

Abstract

Context.The Planck satellite, scheduled for launch in 2007, will produce a set of all sky maps in nine frequency bands spanning from 30 GHz to 857 GHz, with an unprecedented sensitivity and resolution. Planets, minor bodies and diffuse interplanetary dust will contribute to the (sub)mm sky emission observed by Planck, representing a source of foreground contamination to be removed before extracting the cosmological information.

Aims.The aim of this paper is to assess the expected level of contamination in the survey of the forthcoming Planck mission.

Methods.Starting from existing far-infrared (far-IR) models of the Zodiacal Light Emission (ZLE), we present a new method to simulate the time-dependent level of contamination from ZLE at Planck frequencies.

Results.We studied the possibility of Planck to detect and separate the ZLE contribution from the other astrophysical signals.

Conclusions.We discuss the conditions in which Planck will be able to increase the existing information on the ZLE and IDP physical properties. 
This work is done in the framework of the Planck/LFI activities.