PLANCK polarization maps

Magnetic fields as revealed by the Planck mission can be visualized by means of the Line Integral Convolution (short LIC) method. The advantage of LIC compared to other methods such as glyphs is that a dense representation of the vector field is obtained and thus all structures become visible.

As the data is given in HEALPix format, LIC is calculated directly in spherical coordinates and only then projected onto the plane.  Among other things, this has the advantage that the image can be projected onto a planetarium dome and examined interactively.

More information about the galactic magnetic field and its exploration by Planck can be found here.

The image was created in cooperation with Juan Diego Soler (MPIA).

360° panorama view (based on Pannellum)