1st data from ESA's Euclid telescope offers snapshot of cosmic history

NEW DELHI: The European Space Agency (ESA) on Thursday released five unprecedented new views of the Universe from the dark universe probing the Euclid space mission.

The early observations, published in a series of 10 scientific papers, comes at the back of the first full-colour images of the cosmos released by the space telescope in November 2023.

The images showcase Euclid’s ability to probe the secrets of the cosmos and help scientists “hunt for rogue planets, use lensed galaxies to study mysterious matter, and explore the evolution of the Universe”, said the ESA, which launched the telescope, in July 2023.

Valeria Pettorino, ESA’s Euclid Project Scientist, called it “an important milestone”, and “impressively diverse in terms of the objects and distances observed”.

The new images target 17 astronomical objects, from nearby clouds of gas and dust to distant clusters of galaxies.

Taken in just 24 hours, the telescope captured more than 11 million objects in visible light and 5 million more in infrared light.

“They give just a hint of what Euclid can do. We are looking forward to six more years of data to come!” Valeria said.

The findings also showcase Euclid’s ability to search free-floating new-born planets, extragalactic star clusters, low-mass dwarf galaxies in a nearby galaxy cluster, the distribution of dark matter, and intra-cluster light in galaxy clusters.

It also shows distant bright galaxies belonging to the first billion years of the Universe.