PCNT: Planck Multi-frequency Catalogue of Non-thermal Extragalactic Sources

The Planck Multi-frequency Catalogue of Non-thermal Sources (PCNT) is a full-sky catalogue of 29,400 synchrotron-dominated source candidates constructed by NASA from Planck satellite all-sky temperature maps. It provides flux densities and errors for objects in nine Planck frequency channels, using a methodology distinct from other Planck compact source catalogues. The catalogue includes flagged subsets for highly reliable (PCNTb, 1146 sources) and high-significance (PCNThs, 151 sources) samples.

Use Cases

• Statistical analysis of synchrotron-dominated extragalactic sources based on the full catalogue of 29,400 candidates.
• Identifying highly reliable radio sources for follow-up observation based on the Bright (PCNTb) subsample flagged with S/N>4 at 30 and 143 GHz.
• Studying source properties across the electromagnetic spectrum based on multi-frequency flux densities provided in nine Planck channels.
• Comparing detection methodologies for compact sources by contrasting this catalogue with the PCCS and PCCS2.

Strengths

• First unbiased, full-sky catalogue of synchrotron-dominated sources at millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths.
• Contains 29,400 source candidates with multi-frequency flux density and error data.
• Includes a flagged high-reliability subsample (PCNTb) of 1146 compact sources detected outside a Galactic mask.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count for the main catalogue is specified, but sample data and file structure details are unavailable.
• Data may reflect observational biases inherent to the Planck satellite's detection pipeline and filtering methodology.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Constructed from full-mission all-sky temperature maps from the Planck satellite, using Mexican hat wavelet filtering and Matrix Filters methodology for multi-frequency analysis.

Time Range

Covers the full mission period of the Planck satellite.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 17:32:55.460365; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Full-sky coverage.