It’s been almost a year since the telescope was launched Euclid, also known as the detective of the dark side of the universe. In its first 11 months, the probe has revealed full-color images of the cosmos, notable for their sharpness and their ability to cover large portions of the sky and reach the distant universe. Today the European Space Agency (ESA), responsible for the mission, publishes the five new photographs taken with its instruments. The images show the capacity of Euclid to photograph large structures such as galaxies, nebulae and galaxy clusters with high resolution and speed, covering up to a third of the visible sky. Accompanying these images, the first scientific data from the mission have been made public and ten upcoming scientific articles have been announced.
In addition to their stunning beauty, the images reveal new physical properties of the universe. The full set of observations included 17 astronomical objects, from nearby clouds of gas and dust to distant galaxy clusters. The main objective of Euclid is to discover the secrets of the dark cosmos and understand how and why the universe looks the way it does today.
It is estimated that dark matter makes up 25% of the universe and visible matter is only 5%. The rest is dark energy, the hypothetical entity that causes the universe to expand faster and faster. To try to know the nature of that 95% of the cosmos, Euclid will observe the distances, shapes and movements of hundreds of billions of galaxies, creating a three-dimensional map of the universe that will reach objects up to 10 billion light years away.
The ESA assures that the images revealed are only a small fraction of what Euclid can be achieved in the next five years and showcase the telescope’s potential to fulfill its mission of creating the most extensive 3D map of the universe to date to explore its hidden secrets.
Abell 2390, more than 50,000 galaxies
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In this image, the detective Euclid captured Abell 2390, a cluster where more than 50,000 galaxies are concentrated. To photograph them, Euclid uses gravitational lensing, a key technique for exploring the dark universe, indirectly measuring the amount and distribution of dark matter both in galaxy clusters like the one in the image, and elsewhere. Scientists study how the masses and number of galaxy clusters have changed over time, revealing more about the history and evolution of the universe.
The cropped image shows light permeating star clusters that have been torn from their parent galaxies and are in intergalactic space. Seeing this light is the specialty of the telescope, and these orphans allow us to identify where the dark matter is located.
The Messier 78 Nebula
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A vibrant stellar nursery shrouded in interstellar dust: the Messier 78 nebula. Euclid allows us to obtain more precise information about the stars of this object located in the Orion constellation and the dust that hides it. Scientists are using the data set to study the number and proportion of stars and smaller objects found here, key to understanding the dynamics of how stellar populations form and change over time.
NGC 6744, a galaxy like the Milky Way
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In this picture, Euclid shows NGC 6744, the galaxy considered one of the most similar to the Milky Way in our immediate environment. In addition to the spiral structure of the galaxy, Euclid has very clearly captured structures that surround it. This includes plume-shaped dust lanes that emerge as ‘spurs’ from the spiral arms. Scientists will take advantage of this information to understand how dust and gas are linked to star formation, map how different stellar populations are distributed in galaxies, where stars are currently forming, and unravel the physics behind the structure of stars. spiral galaxies, something that is still not fully understood despite decades of study.
Abell 2764 (and bright star)
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Another galaxy cluster: Abell 2764. It comprises hundreds of galaxies within a vast halo of dark matter. This complete view of Abell 2764 and its surroundings allows scientists to determine the radius of the cluster and see its peripheries with distant galaxies still in the frame. In the foreground you can see a very bright star that is located within our own galaxy. When we look at a star through a telescope, its light scatters outward into a diffuse halo. Euclid was designed to make that dispersion as small as possible. As a result, the star causes little disturbance, allowing faint, distant galaxies to be captured near the line of sight without being blinded by the star’s brightness.
‘Golden’ galaxy group
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Euclid has managed to capture the Dorado group of galaxies, discovered by astronomer James Dunlop in 1826. In the image it is possible to see galaxies that are evolving and merging, whose interactions create structures called tidal tails and shells. Thanks to its large field of vision and high resolution, Euclid can capture small details (such as star clusters) as well as larger structures in a single image. Scientists are also looking for globular clusters, which are groups of stars, to better understand their history and dynamics.
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