Planck telescope sends back a postcard of the universe

The Guardian Newspaper: This image from the Planck telescope is a first instalment from its survey of the universe's hidden structure

Giant clouds of interstellar gas and dust light up this panoramic view of the sky recorded by the European Space Agency's Planck telescope.

The space telescope was launched in May last year on a mission to survey the "cosmic microwave background" – ancient light left over from the big bang.

The bright streak across the middle of the picture is our own galaxy, the Milky Way, viewed edge-on. The intense light comes not from stars but from the radiation released by the dust and gas clouds that stretch between them.

"We are opening the door to an El Dorado where scientists can seek the nuggets that will lead to deeper understanding of how our universe came to be and how it works now. The image itself and its remarkable quality is a tribute to the engineers who built and have operated Planck," said David Southwood, director of science and robotic exploration at the European Space Agency (Esa).

The blue and white wisps that reach above and below our own galaxy are streamers of cold dust that trace out the "galactic web" where new stars are born.

The speckles at the top and bottom of the image are caused by microwave background radiation, the remnants of the first light that appeared 380,000 years after the big bang flung the universe into being 13.7bn years ago.

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Made in his own image: The Catholic Church faces another scandal

Joseph Ratzinger is having a terrible year. But as the Catholic Church faces yet another scandal, blame is falling on its most popular figure of modern times, Pope John Paul II, writes Peter Popham of the Guardian newspaper

Take the man at the centre of the latest storm, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe. Aged 67, he was born on the outskirts of Naples and was raised speaking the gritty local dialect, incomprehensible to outsiders. Referred to by Italian newspapers as "l'impresario di Dio", "God's wheeler-dealer", today he is the much-beloved archbishop of the same city: an impressively fat, prosperous looking prelate, who likes nothing better than immersing himself in his crowds of Neapolitan fans, slapping backs and kissing babies. Neapolitans affectionately call their archbishop "O'guapo", local slang for "the boss" – the kindly mafia capo whom people go to with their problems instead of phoning the police. But although no one is accusing him of complicity with the city's fearsome Camorra mafia (Roberto Saviano, author of Gomorrah, a book about the Camorra, leapt to his defence), the crimes of which he is accused are of a type which any mafioso would understand.

Sepe, who is still very young for a cardinal, received spectacular promotions from John Paul II which climaxed when he was given the job of running the church's Jubilee celebrations in 2000. A showman after the late-Pope's heart, he threw a carnival such as Rome has not seen since the days of Nero, and was rewarded for his success with the juicy job of running a church agency called Propaganda Fide, with a Roman property portfolio said to be worth €9bn (£6bn).

Now prosecutors claim that he sold property from that portfolio to a top politician at half its market value in return for his agency receiving special favours from the government. In classic clientelismo style: you scratch the politician's back, and he scratches yours. Except that in this case the alleged perpetrator was one of the most illustrious figures in the Catholic Church.

Pope Benedict, Vatican watchers say, spotted Cardinal Sepe's frailties early on, which is why, in 2006, he unceremoniously removed him from Propaganda Fide – a job that an incumbent would normally expect to hold indefinitely – and packed him off home to Naples.

The cardinal denies that version of what happened as flatly as he denies the corruption charges. Last week he said of the change in his fortunes: "The Holy Father asked me with great insistence to stay in Rome, but my heart was beating for Naples." But apropos of his legal difficulties, he also speaks darkly of enemies "who wanted to strike me, both inside and outside the church".

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Leicester strikes a blow for secularism

An interesting Article by Theo Hobson of the Guardian newspaper.

If a secularist revolution were to emerge in Britain, where would it start? London is too pragmatic to care about such an earnest cause – you can't imagine Boris picking a fight with a bishop. What about the Oxford of Dawkins and Pullman? No: the whiff of royalism and incense lingers in that brainy city. What about more Whiggish Cambridge? No, secularism never grew roots there, despite Francis Crick's best efforts.

Look north – a bit north anyway. Look to Leicester. It's an unlikely choice on the surface: its huge Muslim minority makes it more religious than most cities. But it also has an old secularist tradition - it was here that the first secular society was formed. And this tradition has suddenly flared into life.

The new Lord Mayor is picking a fight with the local Anglican establishment.

Councillor Colin Hall's first move was to appoint fellow secularist campaigners as his Lady Mayoress and his chaplain. The former post went to Eleanor Davidson, who conducts humanist celebrations, and the latter to Allan Hayes, president of Leicester's secular society. Last week Hall refused to attend the traditional cathedral service that welcomes new Lord Mayors. He had asked for the service to be more inclusive of other faiths, and of humanism; he wanted the Lady Mayoress to read a humanist text, and his chaplain to give an address. When the bishop asked to see the sermon in advance, the mayor and his secularist sidekicks pulled out.

Hall has also announced the banning of prayers before monthly council meetings, calling the practice "outdated, unnecessary and intrusive". He added: "I consider that religion, in whatever shape or form, has no role to play at all in the conduct of council business. This particularly applies in Leicester, where the majority of council members, myself included, do not regularly attend any particular faith service." His chaplain has backed the move: "I think it's a good move because saying Christian prayers picks out one particular stance of people in the city. It's rather divisive, in my view."

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