Latest Issue of Science News   Year in Review: Planck refines
cosmic history  Satellite hints at slower expansion rate for
universe  CHANGING TEMPS  A color-coded map shows fluctuations
in microwave radiation temperature across the sky recorded by
the Planck satellite. Noteworthy features include differences
between hemispheres and a cold spot (circle at right).  Magazine
issue:  Sponsor Message   In October, astronomers said good-bye
to the European Space Agency’s Planck satellite, breaking off
contact with the source of the most precise measurements yet of
the universe’s oldest light.  Planck had finished its mission to
measure the Big Bang’s remnant radiation, which today
constitutes an invisible bath of microwaves permeating the
cosmos. This ancient radiation has cooled over time to less than
3 kelvins (degrees above absolute zero). Its precise temperature
varies ever so slightly from point to point across the sky.
With 25 times the sensitivity of its predecessor, NASA’s
Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Pr