Planck early results. I. The Planck mission^⋆

¹ Aalto University Metsähovi Radio Observatory, Metsähovintie 114, 02540 Kylmälä, Finland
² Agenzia Spaziale Italiana Science Data Center, c/o ESRIN, via Galileo Galilei, Frascati, Italy
³ Astroparticule et Cosmologie, CNRS (UMR7164), Université Denis Diderot Paris 7, Bâtiment Condorcet, 10 rue A. Domon et Léonie Duquet, Paris, France
⁴ Astrophysics Group, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, J J Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
⁵ Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, ALMA Santiago Central Offices, Alonso de Cordova 3107, Vitacura, Casilla 763 0355, Santiago, Chile
⁶ CITA, University of Toronto, 60 St. George St., Toronto, ON M5S 3H8, Canada
⁷ CNES, 18 avenue Edouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
⁸ CNR – ISTI, Area della Ricerca, via G. Moruzzi 1, Pisa, Italy
⁹ CNRS, IRAP, 9 Av. colonel Roche, BP 44346, 31028 Toulouse Cedex 4, France
¹⁰ California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
¹¹ Centre of Mathematics for Applications, University of Oslo, Blindern, Oslo, Norway
¹² DAMTP, University of Cambridge, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge CB3 0WA, UK
¹³ DSM/Irfu/SPP, CEA-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
¹⁴ DTU Space, National Space Institute, Juliane Mariesvej 30, Copenhagen, Denmark
¹⁵ Departamento de Física, Universidad de Oviedo, Avda. Calvo Sotelo s/n, Oviedo, Spain
¹⁶ Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto, 50 Saint George Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
¹⁷ Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of British Columbia, 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
¹⁸ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
¹⁹ Department of Physics, Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2a, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
²⁰ Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
²¹ Department of Physics, Purdue University, 525 Northwestern Avenue, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA
²² Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
²³ Department of Physics, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California, USA
²⁴ Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA
²⁵ Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1110 West Green Street, Urbana, Illinois, USA
²⁶ Dipartimento di Fisica G. Galilei, Università degli Studi di Padova, via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
²⁷ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università La Sapienza, P. le A. Moro 2, Roma, Italy
²⁸ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Celoria 16, Milano, Italy
²⁹ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Trieste, via A. Valerio 2, Trieste, Italy
³⁰ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Ferrara, via Saragat 1, 44122 Ferrara, Italy
³¹ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, Roma, Italy
³² Discovery Center, Niels Bohr Institute, Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen, Denmark
³³ Dpto. Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), 38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
³⁴ European Southern Observatory, ESO Vitacura, Alonso de Cordova 3107, Vitacura, Casilla 19001, Santiago, Chile
³⁵ European Space Agency, ESAC, Camino bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanización Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain
³⁶ European Space Agency, ESAC, Planck Science Office, Camino bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanización Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain
³⁷ European Space Agency, ESOC, Robert-Bosch-Str. 5, Darmstadt, Germany
³⁸ European Space Agency, ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands
³⁹ Haverford College Astronomy Department, 370 Lancaster Avenue, Haverford, Pennsylvania, USA
⁴⁰ Helsinki Institute of Physics,Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
⁴¹ INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania, via S. Sofia 78, Catania, Italy
⁴² INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, Padova, Italy
⁴³ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, via di Frascati 33, Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
⁴⁴ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, via G.B. Tiepolo 11, Trieste, Italy
⁴⁵ INAF/IASF Bologna, via Gobetti 101, Bologna, Italy
⁴⁶ INAF/IASF Milano, via E. Bassini 15, Milano, Italy
⁴⁷ INRIA, Laboratoire de Recherche en Informatique, Université Paris-Sud 11, Bâtiment 490, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France
⁴⁸ INSU, Institut des sciences de l’univers, CNRS, 3 rue Michel-Ange, 75794 Paris Cedex 16, France
⁴⁹ IPAG: Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble, Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble 1/CNRS-INSU, UMR 5274, 38041 Grenoble, France
⁵⁰ ISDC Data Centre for Astrophysics, University of Geneva, ch. d’Ecogia 16, Versoix, Switzerland
⁵¹ Imperial College London, Astrophysics group, Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
⁵² Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
⁵³ Institut Néel, CNRS, Université Joseph Fourier Grenoble I, 25 rue des Martyrs, Grenoble, France
⁵⁴ Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, CNRS (UMR8617) Université Paris-Sud 11, Bâtiment 121, Orsay, France
⁵⁵ Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS UMR7095, Université Pierre & Marie Curie, 98 bis boulevard Arago, Paris, France
⁵⁶ Institut de Ciències de l’Espai, CSIC/IEEC, Facultat de Ciències, Campus UAB, Torre C5 par-2, Bellaterra 08193, Spain
⁵⁷ Institute for Space Sciences, Bucharest-Magurale, Romania
⁵⁸ Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
⁵⁹ Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK
⁶⁰ Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, Blindern, Oslo, Norway
⁶¹ Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, C/Vía Láctea s/n, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
⁶² Instituto de Física de Cantabria (CSIC-Universidad de Cantabria), Avda. de los Castros s/n, Santander, Spain
⁶³ Istituto di Fisica del Plasma, CNR-ENEA-EURATOM Association, via R. Cozzi 53, Milano, Italy
⁶⁴ Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, California, USA
⁶⁵ Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, Alan Turing Building, School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
⁶⁶ Kavli Institute for Cosmology Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK
⁶⁷ LERMA, CNRS, Observatoire de Paris, 61 avenue de l’Observatoire, Paris, France
⁶⁸ Laboratoire AIM, IRFU/Service d’Astrophysique - CEA/DSM - CNRS - Université Paris Diderot, Bât. 709, CEA-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
⁶⁹ Laboratoire Traitement et Communication de l’Information, CNRS (UMR 5141) and Télécom ParisTech, 46 rue Barrault, 75634 Paris Cedex 13, France
⁷⁰ Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie, CNRS/IN2P3, Université Joseph Fourier Grenoble I, Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble, 53 rue des Martyrs, 38026 Grenoble Cedex, France
⁷¹ Laboratoire de l’Accélérateur Linéaire, Université Paris-Sud 11, CNRS/IN2P3, Orsay, France
⁷² Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA
⁷³ Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 1, 85741 Garching, Germany
⁷⁴ MilliLab, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Tietotie 3, Espoo, Finland
⁷⁵ National University of Ireland, Department of Experimental Physics, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland
⁷⁶ Niels Bohr Institute, Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen, Denmark
⁷⁷ Observational Cosmology, Mail Stop 367-17, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA
⁷⁸ Optical Science Laboratory, University College London, Gower Street, London, UK
⁷⁹ Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, UK
⁸⁰ SISSA, Astrophysics Sector, via Bonomea 265, 34136, Trieste, Italy
⁸¹ SUPA, Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, UK
⁸² School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, Queens Buildings, The Parade, Cardiff, CF24 3AA, UK
⁸³ Space Research Institute (IKI), Russian Academy of Sciences, Profsoyuznaya Str 84/32, Moscow 117997, Russia
⁸⁴ SpaceSciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
⁸⁵ Spitzer Science Center, 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, California, USA
⁸⁶ Stanford University, Dept of Physics, Varian Physics Bldg, 382 via Pueblo Mall, Stanford, California, USA
⁸⁷ Thales Alenia Space France, 100 Boulevard du Midi, Cannes la Bocca, France
⁸⁸ Universität Heidelberg, Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Albert-Überle-Str. 2, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
⁸⁹ Université de Toulouse, UPS-OMP, IRAP, 31028 Toulouse Cedex 4, France
⁹⁰ Universities Space Research Association, Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, MS 211-3, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA
⁹¹ University of Granada, Departamento de Física Teórica y del Cosmos, Facultad de Ciencias, Granada, Spain
⁹² University of Miami, Knight Physics Building, 1320 Campo Sano Dr., Coral Gables, Florida, USA
⁹³ Warsaw University Observatory, Aleje Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warszawa, Poland

Received: 8 January 2011
Accepted: 31 May 2011

Abstract

The European Space Agency’s Planck satellite was launched on 14 May 2009, and has been surveying the sky stably and continuously since 13 August 2009. Its performance is well in line with expectations, and it will continue to gather scientific data until the end of its cryogenic lifetime. We give an overview of the history of Planck in its first year of operations, and describe some of the key performance aspects of the satellite. This paper is part of a package submitted in conjunction with Planck’s Early Release Compact Source Catalogue, the first data product based on Planck to be released publicly. The package describes the scientific performance of the Planck payload, and presents results on a variety of astrophysical topics related to the sources included in the Catalogue, as well as selected topics on diffuse emission.