The images include a nebula resembling a horse’s head, never-before-seen distant galaxies, and even “circumstantial evidence” of elusive dark matter.
One of the most exciting is the image of the Perseus Cluster of galaxies, where more than a million more galaxies lurk, some hundreds of billions of light-years from Earth, never before seen.
The Euclid telescope has a very wide field of view, which means it can capture such wide images extremely quickly. This image released on Tuesday was captured in just eight hours.
ESA has dubbed Euclid the “dark universe detective” charged with investigating why 95 percent of the universe appears to be made up of dark matter and dark energy, of which we know very little.
Euclid’s early images point to “circumstantial evidence” of dark matter. For example, Euclid found no stars in the globular cluster NGC 6397, suggesting that dark matter may exist around globular clusters.
Euclid also hopes to better understand how dark energy has driven the expansion of the universe since the Big Bang 1.3 billion years ago.
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Once Euclid collects enough data, the scientists plan to create a three-dimensional map – the third dimension being time. This map will allow people to “walk across a part of the sky and go back a billion years.”
Euclid’s mission did not go well. At first, the software for the spacecraft’s fine guidance sensors was “fooled” by cosmic rays. In addition, sunlight reflected off the roar of the thrusters, requiring the telescope to be rotated slightly.
Despite these “engineering challenges,” Euclid has achieved all of its initial milestones and can now focus on scientific research.
Euclid’s mission is a landmark effort that has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the universe.