View Larger Version | View Video | Named for Max Planck (1858–1947), the German scientist who originated quantum theory, the Planck craft will sit between Earth and the sun and scan the entire sky in long, circular strips. Its mission is to detect tiny, potentially telling temperature variations within the cosmic microwave background, the radiation from the Big Bang. Shown is an illustration of Planck scanning that background radiation, represented by its currently understood temperature profile (red for hotter regions and blue for cooler). Credit: C. Carreau/European Space Agency