Captured from 621,000 miles away, this ripple of lustrous lights holds the secrets to the universe.
The breathtaking image is the first map of the entire sky taken from Europe's Planck telescope - and it features the oldest light in the cosmos.
It recorded images at very long wavelengths, invisible to the eye, and shows the dust and gas that went into making stars after the Big Bang 14 billion years ago.
The map was created after the satellite's sensors were cooled to minus 273.05C - just a tenth of a degree above absolute zero - so the telescope could peer back in space and time.
It includes relic radiation, shown as mottled yellow, the universe's oldest light. The dust throughout the galaxy is seen in blue while hot gas is seen as red regions.
And that bright, whiteish line across the centre of the image is our galaxy. This is where we are. Above and below the Milky Way are streamers of cold dust stretching for thousands of light years.
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