Launched into space in July, the European Euclid space telescope recently revealed its first images, offering an incredible glimpse of the universe. Among these photos, an image of the Horsehead Nebula, located in the constellation Orion, as well as distant galaxies never before observed.
Euclid, the world’s first mission dedicated to the study of dark matter and dark energy, set out to map a third of the sky, including two billion galaxies, to create the most precise 3D map of the universe. The first observations were sent from the European Space Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany, after the telescope joined the James Webb Space Telescope, at an observation point about 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.
The images released by Euclid were described as “stunning and inspiring” by Josef Aschbacher, head of the European Space Agency (ESA). There we can see the Horsehead Nebula, as well as spiral galaxies and other “irregular” galaxies. However, the most exciting image is that of the Perseus Cluster, which reveals more than 100,000 additional galaxies in the background, some of which are located 10 billion light years away and have never been observed before .
What sets Euclid apart from other telescopes is its wide field of view, never before seen in the history of astronomy. Thanks to this feature, the telescope can capture large, high-resolution images in record time. The first images were obtained in just eight hours.
Euclid’s mission is to understand the mysteries of the Dark Universe, that is to say the 95% of the Universe which appears to be made up of dark matter and dark energy, phenomena that are still largely unknown. Dark matter plays a vital role in acting as a glue for galaxies, while dark energy is responsible for accelerating the expansion of the Universe.
Euclid’s first observations have already revealed “indirect evidence” for the existence of dark matter, including the absence of stars trailing the globular cluster NGC 6397. According to René Laureijs, scientific leader of the project, this absence could be due to the presence of dark matter.
The next images from Euclid will be released in January, and the mission is planned to last until at least 2029. We look forward to seeing future discoveries from this revolutionary space telescope.
(reference: original article published on the website)