Picture from the past shows early universe

A new image of the universe has been unveiled by the European Space Agency's Planck telescope, showing the oldest light in the universe.

The video featuring the 'all-sky image' of the microwave was composed using data from the Planck telescope covering the electromagnetic spectrum from 30 GHz to 857 GHz.

The still image at the end of the video features the 'cosmic microwave background' - light left over from when the big bang formed the universe.

And the side-on view features our very own Milky Way as a bright strip across the middle.

Speckles of light at the top and bottom of the image are caused by radiation - remnants of the first light which appeared 380,000 years after the big bang created the universe 13.7bn years ago, reported the Guardian's ccience correspondent.

For a more detailed picture, visit ESA.