Two researchers from the UTINAM Institute (UMR CNRS/University of Franche-Comté) are part of the Euclid consortium publishing its first scientific articles based on observations made by the European Space Agency telescope, as well as a new set of unprecedented images of the Universe. These unprecedented images demonstrate Euclid’s ability to unravel the secrets of the cosmos and allow scientists to hunt for rogue planets, discover new dwarf galaxies, and use galaxies distorted by gravitational lenses to study dark matter and the evolution of the Universe.
These new images are part of Euclid’s first observations. They accompany the mission’s first scientific data and ten scientific articles to be published. This treasure trove of data arrives less than a year after the space telescope’s launch, and about six months after it sent the first colour images of the cosmos. In addition to these promising first scientific results, the consortium is also publishing the mission’s reference documents confirming Euclid’s exceptional performance.
In total, these first observations targeted 17 astronomical objects, ranging from nearby gas and dust clouds to distant galaxy clusters, ahead of Euclid’s main survey. The images obtained by Euclid are at least four times sharper than those provided by ground-based telescopes. They cover large areas of the sky with unparalleled depth, looking far into the Universe by combining visible and infrared light, offering both a very wide and very detailed view.
Messier 78
This image shows Messier 78 (the central and brightest region), a stellar nursery wrapped in a cloud of interstellar dust. CREDIT: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi
The first discoveries highlight Euclid’s ability to search for rogue planets, with masses four times that of Jupiter, in star-forming regions; to study the outer regions of star clusters with unprecedented detail; and to map different star populations to study how galaxies have evolved over time. They reveal how the space telescope can detect individual star clusters in distant galaxy groups and clusters, identify a rich harvest of new dwarf galaxies, see the light of stars torn from their parent galaxies – and much more.
Euclid produced this data in just one day of observation, revealing more than 11 million objects in visible light and 5 million others in infrared light. Euclid aims to trace the hidden cosmic web, map billions of galaxies across more than a third of the sky, study how our Universe formed and evolved over time, as well as its most mysterious fundamental components: dark energy and dark matter.
These scientific results demonstrate Euclid’s excellent performance and its ability to provide the expected precision for different targets, as well as efficient data analysis within the Euclid collaboration, which bodes well for the future of the mission. Several data releases will take place until the end of the Euclid mission in 2030, with the next one scheduled for March 2025.
About Euclid:
Euclid is a European mission, built and operated by ESA, with contributions from NASA. The Euclid consortium – composed of more than 2,000 scientists from 300 institutes spread across 15 European countries, the United States, Canada and Japan – is responsible for the development of scientific instruments and data analysis.
Researcher contact: Céline Reylé – celine.reyle@obs-besancon.fr
Links to images: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Euclid/Euclid_s_first_images_the_dazzling_edge_of_darkness https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Euclid/ ESA_s_Euclid_celebrates_first_science_with_sparkling_cosmic_views