2023-11-07 15:52:14
Europe’s Euclid Space Telescope has released its first images, revealing a dazzling horse’s head nebula, never-before-seen distant galaxies and even “indirect evidence” of the existence of elusive dark matter.
Euclid had blasted off in July on the world’s first mission to study the cosmic mysteries of dark matter and dark energy.
It accomplishes its task by mapping a third of the sky – encompassing two billion galaxies – to create what has been billed as the most accurate 3D map of the Universe.
After joining another space telescope, the James Webb, at an observation point some 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, the European probe began sending its first observations, revealed Tuesday from the European Operations Center space in Darmstadt, Germany.
Welcome to the dazzling edge of darkness!????
The first images from #ESAEuclid are here:
razor-sharp, wide & looking far into the distant Universe. A trifecta never before achieved.Explore these 5⃣ cosmic portraits that show Euclid’s full potential and???? pic.twitter.com/viqWrx1dQ2
— ESA’s Euclid mission (@ESA_Euclid) November 7, 2023
“Astounding”
“Stunning and inspiring images that remind us why it is essential to go into space to learn more regarding the mysteries of the Universe,” said Josef Aschbacher, head of the European Space Agency (ESA), in a statement.
Among these photos, an image of the Horse’s Head Nebula, within the nearby constellation of Orion, spiral galaxies, other “irregular” ones…
For René Laureijs, scientific manager of the project, the most “exciting” image is that of the Perseus cluster, a distant collection of more than a thousand galaxies. Because in the background there are more than 100,000 additional galaxies, some of which are located 10 billion light years away and have never been observed.
Euclid’s particularity is to have a wide field of vision “never seen in the history of astronomy”, where James Webb “looks at the sky through the eye of a needle” in particular to explore the early ages of the Universe, explained to AFP Jean-Charles Cuillandre, astronomer and physicist at the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), member of the Euclid consortium.
Participation suisse
“It’s very exciting to see the first images,” Julian Adamek of the University of Zurich (UZH) told Keystone-ATS. The researcher has been working on the Euclid mission for more than ten years. “We see for the first time what the instruments are capable of”
In Switzerland, in addition to UZH, the Nord-Ouest Specialized School (HES-NO), the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne and the University of Geneva participate in Euclid.
Parts of the “Visible Instrument” measuring tool were developed in Switzerland. This is a high-resolution camera that observes visible light in space.
Swiss institutions are also involved in the field of software: HES-NO contributed to the infrastructure that enables the management and distribution of large amounts of spatial data via a global data network.
Large and fast images
It is thanks to this broad view that the telescope, equipped with two devices (optical and near infrared), is able to capture such vast, high-resolution images. All extremely quickly: the first five images only took regarding eight hours.
The ESA describes Euclid as its “dark universe detective”, tasked with investigating why 95% of the cosmos appears to be made up of dark matter and dark energy, regarding which we know almost nothing.
Dark matter, attractive, acts as a glue for galaxies, which prevents stars from being ejected. Dark, repulsive energy “is the driving force behind the acceleration of the expansion of the Universe,” explains Carole Mundell, scientific director of the ESA.
Euclid’s first delivery has already revealed “indirect evidence” of the existence of dark matter, according to René Laureijs. For example, it is “surprising” that the probe did not spot any stars trailing the globular cluster NGC 6397 – a conglomerate of stars. “One of the theories is that there might be dark matter around.”
The next images will be published in January. The European mission must last until at least 2029.
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