PCCS2: Planck Catalog of 44-GHz Compact Sources Release 2

The Planck Catalog of 44-GHz Compact Sources (PCCS) Release 2 is the second Planck Catalogue of Compact Sources from the European Space Agency's Planck mission. It lists discrete Galactic and extragalactic objects detected over the entire sky in single-frequency maps from the full mission duration, superseding earlier versions. The catalog includes polarization measurements for seven channels and is split into the PCCS2 and PCCS2E subcatalogs based on detection reliability in different sky regions.

Use Cases

• Classifying Galactic versus extragalactic compact sources based on full-sky detection data.
• Analyzing polarized flux densities and orientation angles from the seven polarization-sensitive channels.
• Studying dust emission at far-infrared and submillimeter wavelengths based on Planck's extended frequency range.
• Comparing source reliability and completeness between the PCCS2 and PCCS2E subcatalogs for different sky regions.

Strengths

• Data from the full duration of the Planck mission, launched in 2009, providing continuous measurements.
• Covers the entire sky with detections in frequencies from 30 to 857 GHz.
• Includes polarization measurements for seven channels, with polarized flux densities and orientation angles.
• Supersedes previous catalog versions with improved data processing and reduced noise levels.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale analysis.
• The PCCS2E subcatalog contains sources from regions where diffuse emission makes reliability quantification difficult.

Provenance

Source

European Space Agency (ESA) Planck mission, with contributions from NASA.

Collection Method

Detections from single-frequency maps made by the Planck spacecraft's Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) and High Frequency Instrument (HFI).

Time Range

Observations initiated from the First Light Survey on 12 August 2009 following the May 2009 launch.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 18:17:55.233502; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Full-sky coverage.