Earlier this week, scientists released some of the first photos taken by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Euclid Space Telescope, which launched in July of this year.
“Never before have telescopes been able to create such clear astronomical images over such a large area of the sky, staring so far into space. These five images demonstrate the full potential of Euclid. These studies show that this telescope is poised to create the most extensive 3D map of the universe ever and reveal some of its hidden secrets. ” said the ESA on its website.
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Little is known about dark matter and energy. According to the ESA, it seems that 95% of our universe is made up of these mysterious “dark” beings. But their presence causes only very subtle changes in the appearance and movement of what we can see, so we don’t understand what they are, the space agency explains on its website. I am.
Over the next six years, Euclid will investigate how dark matter and dark energy made our universe what it is, and will study the shapes, distances, and shapes of billions of galaxies up to 10 billion light-years apart. I plan to observe the movement. “This will create the largest 3D map of the universe ever created,” ESA explains on his website.
The images show everything from bright stars to faint galaxies. According to ESA, Euclid “can produce extremely sharp visible and infrared images over large parts of the sky in a single operation.”
“Dark matter pulls galaxies together and makes them spin faster than visible matter alone can explain. Dark energy is driving the accelerating expansion of the universe. Euclid helped cosmologists bring these competing dark mysteries together. For the first time, it will be possible to study it,” ESA Scientific Director Professor Carol Mandel said in a statement.
“We have never seen astronomical images like this before, containing so much detail. They are even more beautiful and clear than we expected, and they show a lot of detail in the nearby universe. “It shows us many features we have never seen before. Now we are ready to observe billions of galaxies and study their evolution over cosmic time.” ESA’s Euclid project scientist René Laureis explained.
Let’s take a closer look at the image here.
This undated document obtained from the European Space Agency on November 2, 2023 shows another excerpt of astronomical images of galaxies in the Perseus cluster taken during ESA’s Euclid space mission. . (AFP)
This image shows 1000 galaxies belonging to the Perseus cluster. According to the ESA website, many of these faint galaxies have never been seen before. Some of them are so far away that their light takes 10 billion years to reach us.
Alternative crop of an astronomical image of irregular dwarf galaxy NGC 6822 taken during ESA’s Euclid space mission. (AFP)
This first irregular dwarf galaxy observed by Euclid is called NGC 6822 and is located just 1.6 million light-years from Earth.
Spiral galaxy IC 342, nicknamed the “Hidden Galaxy,” was one of the first galaxies observed by Euclid. (AFP)
Thanks to its infrared observations, Euclid has already revealed important information about the stars in the IC 342, or Caldwell 5, galaxy, which is very similar to the Milky Way.
This image provided by the European Space Agency shows a Euclidean perspective on a globular cluster called NGC 6397. (AP)
NGC 6397 is the second closest globular cluster to Earth, located approximately 7800 light-years away. According to ESA, Euclid is currently the only telescope that can observe an entire globular cluster in one observation.
Please also read: The James Webb Space Telescope has become the rock star of space.
