- In Euclid’s mission, Scientists hope to gain insight into the expanding universe by learning more about dark energy.
- The mission is to map the sky in 3D You will be able to better understand its structure and composition.
- The first 1% of this space atlas Now available, millions of galaxies are captured in incredible detail.
NASA/JPL published this original story on October 15, 2024. Edited by EarthSky.
Euclid’s mission begins the cosmic atlas
In 2023, the Euclid spacecraft launched from Florida with a mission to understand why the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. To that end, the Wide-Angle Space Telescope is creating the most extensive 3D map of the universe ever. On October 15, 2024, Euclid’s team published the first part of a cosmic atlas that covers more than 500 times the area of the full moon (just 1%). The 208 gigapixel mosaic offers a glimpse of what’s to come on Euclid’s six-year mission.
The Euclid team presented the new images at the International Astronomical Congress in Milan on October 15th.
A deep perspective on the universe
The mosaic includes 260 observations in visible and infrared light taken between March 25 and April 8 of this year. In just two weeks, Euclid covered 132 square degrees of the southern sky. This is more than 500 times the area of the sky covered by a full moon.
This mosaic represents 1% of an extensive study carried out by Euclid over a six-year period. In this survey, the telescope will observe the shape, distance, and motion of billions of galaxies over 10 billion light-years away. This will create the largest 3D space map ever created.
This first part of the map already contains about 100 million stars and galaxies. About 14 million of these galaxies could be used by Euclid to study the hidden influence of dark energy on the universe.
Jason Rose is an observational cosmologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. He is also Euclid’s U.S. Science Director and principal investigator for NASA’s Euclid Dark Energy Science Team. Rose said:
We have already seen beautiful, high-resolution images of individual objects and groups of objects from Euclid. This new image finally lets us experience the vast area of the sky covered by Euclid. This will enable detailed measurements of billions of galaxies.
A closer look at our universe
Although this part of space represents only 1% of Euclid’s total survey area, the spacecraft’s sensitive cameras captured an incredible number of objects in detail. Magnifying the image 600 times reveals the complex structure of a spiral galaxy in the galaxy cluster Abel 3381, 470 million light-years away.
JPL’s Mike Seiffert is the project scientist for NASA’s contribution to Euclid. Seifert said:
What’s really surprising about these new images is the sheer range of physical scales. 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.
The new mosaic also shows clouds of gas and dust located between the stars of our galaxy. sometimes called galactic cirrus clouds Euclidean’s visible light camera can see these clouds because they look like Earth’s cirrus clouds. Because these clouds reflect visible light from the Milky Way.
Zoom in for amazing detail
More will be added to Space Atlas in the future.
The mosaic released today is a taste of what comes from Euclid. The mission is scheduled to release a 53-square-degree Euclidean survey in March 2025, including a preview of the Euclidean Deep Field region. The Euclid team then plans to publish its first year of cosmology data in 2026.
NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman mission will also study dark energy in a way that complements Euclidean. Mission planners plan to use Euclid’s findings to inform Roman’s dark energy research. Scheduled to launch by May 2027, Roman will study a smaller section of the sky than Euclid, but will provide high-resolution images of millions of galaxies. It also provides complementary information by peering deeper into the universe’s past. In addition, Roman will explore nearby galaxies, find and study planets throughout the galaxy, study objects in the outer reaches of our solar system, and more.
Conclusion: Euclid’s mission to explore the universe and help understand the nature of dark energy and the expanding universe has just released the first 1% of its cosmic atlas.
via NASA/JPL
