About Planck Public Data Release 3

The IRSA Planck Public Data Release 3 (PR3) is the U.S. release of the mid-2018 ESA PR3 Planck data products. It primarily consists of data products resulting from a reprocessing of data taken during the full mission, with a particular emphasis on the polarization planes in the maps. Planck is an ESA mission with significant NASA involvement. PR3 is described in the Planck 2018 Release Explanatory Supplement which is available via the ESA Planck Legacy Archive wiki page.

Update July 2020:

In July 2020, the Planck archive had the following update:

The maps resulting from joint LFI and HFI processing, using the NPIPE pipeline were released on the Planck PR3 Ancillary Data page. These maps are an independent reprocessing of the Planck time ordered information which appears to reduce noise and systematics at all angular scales, while resulting in improved consistency across frequencies, particularly in polarization.

Release Overview:

The NASA Planck Archive, which is served by the InfraRed Science Archive (IRSA) at IPAC, contains the following PR3 products along with supplemental data and tools:

• Planck All Sky Maps - Temperature, Polarization, and Component Separated Maps

Full channel maps are built using all the valid detectors of a frequency channel and cover the full mission and cover Survey 1-9 for LFI and Survey 1-5 for HFI. Single survey maps are built using all valid detectors of a frequency channel, but cover separately the different sky surveys. Half-ring maps are built using only the first or the second half of the stable pointing period data.

The HEALPix formatted maps are available for download and are used as the basis for cutout images in the catalog visualization service. The map units which are T_CMB for 30-353 GHz and MJy/sr for 545 and 857 GHz. T_CMB units can be converted to MJy/sr (see the PR3 Explanatory Supplement for appropriate conversion factors).

• Source Catalogs

Most source catalogs were released for PR2 and were not re-generated for PR3. PR3 only contains a catalog of non-thermal sources.

• Catalog and Map Visualization

The cutouts in the visualization service are still from the PR2 full mission maps and have not been updated for PR3. The maximum recommended size of the cutouts in the visualization service is 2 degrees. Cutouts larger that that will result in photometry that differs by more than 1% compared to photometry on the native HEALPix maps.

• Time Ordered Information Search and Visualization

The calibrated Planck Time Ordered Information (TOI) data remains at PR2 and have not been updated for PR3. The data consist of the individual detector readings acquired as the spacecraft spun at 1 rpm. Each reading is tagged by the observed location on the sky, the date and time the sample was acquired, the measured intensity, and whether or not Planck was pointed towards a major Solar System object (the planets are bright). TOIs can be selected by region on the sky, specific detectors, and by date range. The search results can be downloaded as a FITS binary table for further use and also used to produce images using the Minimap algorithm.

• Planck Ancillary Data - Cosmological Parameters, Noise Covariance Matrices, Correction Maps, Masks, Pointing and Instrument Parameters

The ancillary data have been updated for PR3. The data sets available are 1) cosmological parameters and noise covariance matrices, 2) complete listings of all LFI and HFI products and the instrumentation information, 3) correction maps for both LFI and HFI frequencies, 4) foreground source masks for LFI and HFI, 5) effective beams for LFI and HFI and HFI beam window functions,

• Software - Useful software for analysis of Planck data

The likelihood code and associated files have been updated for PR3.

Planck Survey Dates

The dates of the Planck Survey Boundaries are: