ESA astronomers have published a 208 gigapixel mosaic of images taken by. EuclidA mission launched in 2023 to study why the universe is expanding at an accelerated rate.
Created by ESA's Euclid Space Telescope, this mosaic includes 260 observations collected in 2024. Image credits: ESA / Euclid / Euclid Consortium / NASA / CEA Paris-Saclay / J.-C. Quilandre / E. Bertin / G. Anselmi
The new Euclidean Mosaic includes 260 observations made between March 25 and April 8, 2024.
In just two weeks, the space telescope covered 132 square degrees of the southern sky in pristine detail. This is more than 500 times the area of the full moon.
This mosaic represents 1% of the extensive research that Euclid will collect over six years.
During this survey, Euclid will observe the shapes, distances, and movements of billions of galaxies up to 10 billion light years apart. This creates the largest 3D map of the universe ever created.
The first part of the map already includes about 100 million sources, including stars in the Milky Way and galaxies beyond.
About 14 million of these galaxies could be used to study the hidden effects of dark matter and dark energy on the universe.
“This amazing image is the first part of a map that will reveal more than a third of the sky in six years' time,” said Euclid project scientist and ESA astronomer Dr. Valeria Pettorino. said.
“Although this is only 1% of the map, it is packed with a variety of sources that will help scientists discover new ways to describe the universe.”
“We're already seeing beautiful, high-resolution images of individual objects and groups of objects from Euclid,” said Euclid's U.S. science director and observational cosmologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. said lead researcher Dr. Jason Rose. For NASA's Euclid Dark Energy Science Team.
“This new image finally gives us a taste of the vast area of the sky covered by Euclid. It allows for detailed measurements of billions of galaxies.”
The spacecraft's highly sensitive cameras captured an incredible amount of detail.
A special feature visible in the mosaic is the dim clouds between the stars of our Milky Way galaxy, which appear light blue against the black background of space.
They are a mixture of gas and dust and are also called galactic cirrus clouds because they look like cirrus clouds.
Euclid can be seen with ultra-sensitive visible light cameras because these clouds reflect light from the Milky Way.
Clouds also glow in the far infrared, as seen on ESA's Planck mission.
A new mosaic is a preview of what's to come from the Euclid mission.
Since the mission began regular scientific observations in February, 12% of its research has been completed.
Publication of the 53 square degree survey results, including a preview of the Euclidean Deep Field region, is scheduled for March 2025.
The mission's first year of cosmological data is expected to be made available to the community in 2026.
“What's really surprising about these new images is the sheer range of physical scales,” said Dr. Mike Seifert, project scientist for the NASA contribution to Euclid.
“These images capture details ranging from star clusters near individual galaxies to some of the largest structures in the universe.”
“We are starting to see the first hints of what the complete Euclid data will look like when we reach the completion of the main survey.”
Source: www.sci.news
