The cosmic microwave background was discovered in 1964 and studied in incredible detail by thegalaxies, clusters, and superclusters. This growth process was governed by the global properties of the cosmos, such as the abundance of ‘normal' and dark matter, the expansion rate and the amount of dark energy. By meticulously comparing the Planck data with observations of today’s Universe, scientists have been able to quantify these cosmological parameters to a high accuracy, even though the true nature of dark matter and dark energy is still a mystery.
