The Perseus Galaxy Cluster

Cosmology Euclid space telescope delivers first scientific images

With outstanding sharpness, Euclid looks deep into the distant universe. The research team behind the mission, including Bochum cosmologist Hendrik Hildebrandt, is thrilled with the first images.

Euclid, the newest space telescope of the European Space Agency ESA with strong German participation, released its first color photos from space today. Never before has a telescope been able to take such sharp astronomical images over such a large area of the sky while looking so deep into the distant universe. The five images show Euclid’s full potential. They illustrate that the telescope is poised to produce the most comprehensive 3D map of the universe to uncover some of its dark secrets. The German members of the Euclid consortium are at the forefront of the research, contributing key technical components and logistical services.

We can hardly wait to unleash the analysis methods that we have been developing for Euclid here in Bochum for the last years on the data.

—
Hendrik Hildebrandt

“These first fantastic images from Euclid impressively demonstrate the capabilities of the space telescope and its cameras as well as the scientific breadth of the mission,” says Professor Hendrik Hildebrandt, cosmologist at Ruhr University Bochum and member of the Euclid consortium. “The outstanding quality of the images clearly demonstrates that nothing stands in the way of the groundbreaking cosmological measurements that Euclid will make over much larger areas of the sky in the coming years. There is great anticipation and excitement about this unique data set. We can hardly wait to unleash the analysis methods that we have been developing for Euclid here in Bochum for the last years on the data. These images remind us that this exciting moment is just around the corner.”

Euclid’s first images

The Horsehead Nebula – Euclid shows us a spectacularly panoramic and detailed view of the Horsehead Nebula, also known as Barnard 33 and part of the constellation Orion. In Euclid’s new observation of this stellar nursery, scientists hope to find many dim and previously unseen Jupiter-mass planets in their celestial infancy, as well as young brown dwarfs and baby stars.

Globular cluster NGC 6397 – This sparkly image shows Euclid’s view on a globular cluster called NGC 6397. This is the second-closest globular cluster to Earth, located about 7800 light-years away. Globular clusters are collections of hundreds of thousands of stars held together by gravity. Currently no other telescope than Euclid can observe an entire globular cluster in one single observation, and at the same time distinguish so many stars in the cluster. These faint stars tell us about the history of the Milky Way and where dark matter is located.

Spiral galaxy IC 342 – Over its lifetime, our dark Universe detective will image billions of galaxies, revealing the unseen influence that dark matter and dark energy have on them. That’s why it’s fitting that one of the first galaxies that Euclid observed is nicknamed the ‘Hidden Galaxy’, also known as IC 342 or Caldwell 5. Thanks to its infrared view, Euclid has already uncovered crucial information about the stars in this galaxy, which is a look-alike of our Milky Way.

The Perseus Galaxy Cluster – This incredible snapshot from Euclid is major progress for astronomy. The image shows 1,000 galaxies belonging to the Perseus Cluster, and more than 100,000 additional galaxies further away in the background. Many of these faint galaxies were previously unseen. Some of them are so distant that their light has taken 10 billion years to reach us. By mapping the distribution and shapes of these galaxies, cosmologists will be able to find out more about how dark matter shaped the Universe that we see today. This is the first time that such a large image has allowed us to capture so many Perseus galaxies in such a high level of detail. Perseus is one of the most massive structures known in the Universe, located just 240 million light-years away from Earth.

Irregular galaxy NGC 6822 – To create a 3D map of the Universe, Euclid will observe the light from galaxies out to 10 billion light-years. Most galaxies in the early Universe don’t look like the quintessential neat spiral, but are irregular and small. They are the building blocks for bigger galaxies like our own, and we can still find some of these galaxies relatively close to us. This first irregular dwarf galaxy that Euclid observed is called NGC 6822 and is located close by, just 1.6 million light-years from Earth.

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