The European Space Agency (ESA) has unveiled the first survey data from its ambitious Euclid mission. The groundbreaking images feature an extraordinary collection of galaxies, clusters, and deep cosmic fields, revealing over 26 million galaxies, including quasars up to 10.5 billion light-years away.
The Euclid mission’s massive dataset aims to create one of the largest cosmic maps ever created, with a final sky map covering approximately 14,000 square degrees. By scanning each of the three deep regions 30-52 times before 2030, researchers will build an incredibly detailed 3D cosmic atlas that helps explore galaxy formation and dark matter’s role.
The mission has already discovered hundreds of thousands of galaxies in its initial observations, capturing active galactic nuclei and rare celestial events. The data is being processed using artificial intelligence models and citizen science, enabling scientists to analyze the vast amount of information and refine our understanding of dark matter and dark energy.
Euclid’s findings also offer insights into gravitational lensing, a natural effect caused by gravity that helps detect dark matter. The mission has already identified 500 possible examples of strong gravitational lenses, with plans to discover up to 100,000 more. These discoveries will provide valuable tools for studying how dark matter is spread across the universe and shaping galaxies.
The ESA’s Euclid Consortium, comprising over 2,000 scientists from 15 countries, has made this mission a global effort. With regular science work beginning in February 2024, the agency expects to share its first full set of cosmology data in October 2026.
Source: https://www.earth.com/news/euclid-captures-26-million-galaxies-in-vivid-deep-field-photos