The Euclid space telescope of the European Space Agency (ESA), which was launched in space on July 1, 2023, has revealed a new set of five images of the cosmos on May 23, 2024, with unprecedented details.
These new images are part of Euclid’s early release observations before the beginning of the main survey. During its six-year survey, the space telescope will scan over one-third of the sky to create the most accurate 3D map of our universe. The space telescope will observe billions of galaxies up to a distance of 10 billion light-years to investigate the invisible dark matter and dark energy of our universe.
The new images include views of a galaxy cluster named Abell 2390, a star-forming region named Messier 78, a spiral galaxy named NGC 6744, a galaxy cluster named Abell 2764, and a group of galaxies named the Dorado Group.
Abell 2390
Abell 2390 is a galaxy cluster that contains thousands of galaxies. Here, more than 50,000 galaxies are seen.
Abell 2390 is located about 2.7 billion light-years away in the constellation of Pegasus.
Galaxy clusters like Abell 2390 are reservoirs of dark matter as they contain huge amounts of mass (up to 10 trillion times that of our Sun).
Messier 78
Messier 78 is a young, stellar nursery where baby stars are currently forming.
Messier 78 is located about 1300 light-years away in the famous constellation of Orion.
The infrared camera of the Euclid space telescope shows the complex filaments of gas and dust within this star-forming region with unprecedented detail.
Euclid’s visible and infrared cameras detected more than 300,000 new objects in this field of view alone.
NGC 6744
NGC 6744 is one of the largest spiral galaxies, and Euclid’s large field-of-view covers the entire galaxy in a single shot.
NGC 6744 is located about 30 million light-years away in the constellation of Pavo.
Here, the spiral arms of the galaxy that come out of a dense central region are clearly seen.
The Euclid space telescope has already found a new dwarf “satellite galaxy” of NGC 6744.
Abell 2764
Abell 2764 is a galaxy cluster (top right) that contains hundreds of galaxies.
Abell 2764 is located about 1 billion light-years away in the constellation of Phoenix.
In this field of view, not only Abell 2764 but also many background galaxies, more distant galaxy clusters, and even a very bright star are seen.
The bright star named HD 1973 is located in our own galaxy and is visible to the naked eye from the southern hemisphere.
Dorado group
The Dorado group is one of the richest galaxy groups in the southern hemisphere.
The Dorado Group is located about 62 million light-years away in the constellation of Dorado.
Here, the Euclid space telescope captured the beautiful tails and shells of the galaxies as a result of ongoing interactions.
Related article: ESA’s Euclid space telescope reveals its first full-color images of the cosmos
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