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Image of Euclid's star-forming region Messier 78
Image processing by Messier 78 ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, J.-C Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard License
The Euclid Space Telescope team has released its first scientific image. The images show shimmering galaxy clusters, stunningly clear images of nearby spiral galaxies, and colorful clouds of interstellar gas that are home to hundreds of thousands of young stars.
The photo above shows a star-forming region called Messier 78. Because Euclid is much more sensitive than previous telescopes, this image alone revealed more than 300,000 new objects, most of which are newborn stars. Some of those objects are rogue planets that don't orbit around a star but float alone. It was impossible to find them in this region before.
The two images below are of galaxy clusters called Abell 2390 and Abell 2764. Future observations with the Euclid Telescope will reveal many more clusters like this one. One of the telescope's main goals is to map dark matter in the universe, and studying how light from distant galaxies is distorted as it passes through these clusters is one way of finding the gravitational effects of dark matter.
Euclid's View of Abel 2390
ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing: J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard License.
Abel 2764 Euclid's view of nearby bright stars
ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, Image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard License
Euclid also took images of individual galaxies within clusters, such as the two shown in the image below. These galaxies are part of the Dorado galaxy group, and are in the midst of a complex dance of rushing through each other and eventually merging.
Image of Euclid's Dorado galaxy group
ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, Image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard License.
The photo below shows a giant spiral galaxy called NGC 6744. Such detailed images allow researchers to study galaxy formation in great detail. Researchers have already used Euclid data to discover a never-before-seen dwarf galaxy orbiting NGC 6744.
Image of Euclid's spiral galaxy NGC 6744
ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, Image processing: J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard License
These five images, along with 12 others that have not yet been fully analyzed, were all taken during just 24 hours of observation. “Once the mission is complete, the Euclidean sky map will be the most detailed map of the sky ever, so it's basically a hint at what the observatory is capable of,” he said. Roland Wavreck“The fact that we can get all this in one day shows just how much data we can get from a six-year mission,” said Euclid team member David Schneider of the European Space Agency.
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Source: www.newscientist.com
