Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A), published by EDP Sciences, has published a special feature on the results from the ESA Planck mission, based on data released by ESA and the Planck Collaboration in July 2018. The Planck mission was dedicated to studying the early Universe and its subsequent evolution by mapping the anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background radiation.

The Planck 2018 results special issue represents over two years of hard work by many contributors. All 12 articles are free or open access. From the Pre-launch status of the Planck mission, to the early results and 2013 and 2015 results, these special issues are always highly-anticipated and very popular. The latest special issue in A&A collates the final series of papers from the Planck collaboration, released along with the final data release.

“The 12 articles in the special issue describe the released data products and present scientific results extracted by the Planck Collaboration from this data. The six-parameter ΛCDM model continues to provide an excellent fit to the cosmic microwave background data at high and low redshift. Planck measures five of those six parameters to better than 1%, and together with external datasets, sets tight limits to many possible extensions of the model,” explain Joao Alves, Thierry Forveille, Laura Pentericci and Steve Shore in their editorial.

They go on to say, “Beyond those immediate results, the Planck 2018 dataset constitutes an essential treasure trove and will have lasting importance for both cosmology and foreground astrophysics. We warmly thank Jan Tauber and the Planck Science Team for coordinating this special feature.”

Read the Planck 2018 results special issue here.
Access all the Planck special issues here.