Planck launched into space in 2009 and has been scanning the skies ever since, mapping cosmic microwave background, or the afterglow, of the theoretical big bang that created the universe more than 13 billion years ago. NASA contributed mission-enabling technology for both of Planck's science instruments, and U.S., European and Canadian scientists work together to analyze the Planck data.
The teleconference participants are:
-- Paul Hertz, director of astrophysics, NASA Headquarters, Washington
-- Charles Lawrence, U.S. Planck project scientist, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
-- Martin White, U.S. Planck scientist, University of California, Berkeley, Calif.; and Faculty Senior Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory
-- Krzysztof Gorski, U.S. Planck scientist, JPL
-- Marc Kamionkowski, professor of physics and astronomy, John Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.
This event previously was scheduled as a televised news conference.
Questions may be submitted via Twitter using the hashtag #AskNASA .
Visuals will be posted at the start of the teleconference on NASA's Planck website: http://www.nasa.gov/planck .
Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live on NASA's website at:
http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio . The event will also be streamed live on Ustream at:
http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2 .
For additional information about Planck, visit:
http://www.esa.int/planck .