ESA's Euclid spacecraft launched in July 2023 and is set to begin science observations in early 2024. It's studying how dark energy and dark matter have shaped the universe. Its first images show the Horsehead Nebula and other striking objects.
has released the first images from its Euclid space telescope — a spacecraft peering 10 billion years into the past to create the largest 3D map of the universe yet. From the distinctive Horsehead Nebula to a “hidden” spiral galaxy that looks much like the Milky Way, Euclid is giving us the clearest look yet at both known and previously unseen objects speckling enormous swathes of the sky.
Euclid is investigating the “dark” universe, searching for signs of how dark energy and dark matter have influenced the evolution of the cosmos. It’ll observe one-third of the sky over the next six years, studying billions of galaxies with its 4-foot-wide telescope, visible-wavelength camera and near-infrared camera/spectrometer.
The spacecraft is able to see objects that have been too faint for others to observe. Its detailed observation of the well-known Horsehead Nebula, a stellar nursery in the Orion constellation, for example, could reveal young stars and planets that have previously gone undetected.Euclid also observed the dwarf galaxy, NGC 6822 , which sits just 1.6 million light years away. This small, ancient galaxy could hold clues on how galaxies like our own came to be.
“We have never seen astronomical images like this before, containing so much detail,” said René Laureijs, ESA’s Euclid Project Scientist, of the first batch of images. “They are even more beautiful and sharp than we could have hoped for, showing us many previously unseen features in well-known areas of the nearby universe.”
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