The Euclid Space TELESCOPE has revealed the “first page” of the cosmic atlas it is building. Part of a map of the universe being compiled by Euclid was released on Monday (October 15), showing tens of millions of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy and around 14 million galaxies far outside our galaxy.
This vast cosmic mosaic was built from 260 Euclid observations collected between March 25 and April 8, 2024 and contains 208 gigapixels of data. This mapped region covers an area about 500 times wider than the size of the full moon in Earth’s sky.
Perhaps most surprising, this mosaic represents only 1% of the total survey that Euclid will conduct over the next six years. This telescope will track the shape, distance and movement of galaxies up to 10 billion light years away.
Not only will it produce the largest 3D map of the universe ever created, but the sheer scale of this map will also help scientists investigate the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy, often referred to as the “dark universe.”
“This stunning image is the first part of a map that in six years will reveal more than a third of the sky,” said Valeria Pettorino, Euclid Project Scientist at the European Space Agency (ESA), in a statement.
“This is only 1% of the map, but it is full of resources that will help scientists find new ways to describe the universe.”
Cosmic Atlas or Case of “Dark Universe Detective”?
Launched in July 2023, Euclid began conducting scientific observations in February. This wide-angle space telescope is equipped with a 600 megapixel camera capable of recording visible and near-infrared light using a spectrometer.
This allows us to measure “redshift,” the change in wavelength of light that reaches us as the galaxy moves away from the Milky Way.
By doing this on multiple galaxies, Euclid was able to measure the effects of dark energy, the mysterious force that drives the acceleration of the universe by expanding the space between galaxies.
“Euclid observed the universe in a completely new way, and will obtain a massive census of galaxies,” Universidad ECCI cosmologist Luz Angela García Peñaloza told Space.com. “Each image that reveals information about the distribution of galaxies in the large-scale structure of the universe will provide a wealth of information about the nature of the dark side of the universe.
“We still need to wait a little longer to get a larger sample of galaxies to inform cosmological parameters and rule out some existing models.”
Although representing only two weeks of observations, the Euclid spacecraft’s sensitive cameras captured a variety of objects in great detail for this latest release.
One feature that will interest scientists in Euclid’s mosaic is the faint cloud that appears to stretch between the stars in the Milky Way. These clouds appear in the wider image as light blue streaks on the black background of space.
These blue streaks are a mixture of gas and dust that are sometimes referred to as “galactic cirrus” because they resemble cirrus clouds in Earth’s sky. Euclid’s ability to visualize these clouds came from the fact they reflected optical light from the Milky Way and shone brightly in far infrared light.
By taking a broader view of the universe and then narrowing the view, the deep detail that Euclid facilitates allows astronomers to magnify the mosaic to great depth and see complex structures, such as the shape of the spiral galaxy ESO 364-G036 located some 420 million light years away.
This first page of Euclid’s cosmic atlas, which is a small piece of the map of the universe yet to be created, is just a glimpse of the great things to come from this mission.
About 12% of Euclid’s planned data has been collected, and release of the 53 square degree survey, including a preview of the Euclid Deep Field area, is scheduled for March 2025. The first year of cosmology data from the mission will be released to the scientific community in 2026.
“This is just the beginning of what we will see during Euclid’s lifetime,” García Peñaloza concludes. “The best is definitely yet to come! I am confident that Euclid will illuminate our understanding of cosmic mysteries.”
ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and the space agency’s Director of Science, Carole Mundell, revealed the Euclid mosaic at the International Astronautical Congress in Milan, Italy. (Space/Z-3)
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