”The images and associated scientific discoveries are impressively diverse in terms of objects and distances observedsays Valeria Pettorino, Euclid project scientist at ESA. They include a variety of scientific applications and yet only represent 24 hours of observations. They only give a glimpse of what Euclid can do. We look forward to six more years of data to come!”
With Euclid, six Belgian scientists want to unravel the greatest mystery of science
The full set of early observations targeted 17 astronomical objects, from nearby gas and dust clouds to distant galaxy clusters, before Euclid’s main study. This aims to unlock the secrets of the dark cosmos and reveal how and why the Universe looks like it does today. “This space telescope intends to respond to the biggest open questions in cosmology”, adds Valeria Pettorino. “And these early observations clearly demonstrate that Euclid is more than up to the task.”
Abell 2390 is a galaxy cluster, a giant conglomeration of many galaxies like the Milky Way. We see in the image around 50,000 galaxies whose distances can be measured using these new observations. Such clusters contain enormous amounts of mass (up to 10 trillion times that of the Sun), much of which is in the form of dark matter – a form of matter that we cannot observe directly, but which is believed to exist with dark matter. Energy makes up most of the content of the Universe. Galaxy clusters like Abell 2390 are vast reservoirs of dark matter, making them ideal astrophysical laboratories for studying its properties. Once Euclid begins its primary survey, it will capture several thousand galaxy clusters across about a third of the sky, gaining information we can use to impose unprecedented constraints on the dark Universe.
This new view shows the galaxy cluster Abell 2764 (top right), a very dense region of space containing hundreds of galaxies orbiting in a halo of dark matter.
Euclid captures a series of objects in this part of the sky, including many background galaxies, more distant galaxy clusters, and a nice spiral that allows us to see the “thinness.” of his disk.
Euclid’s observations of Abell 2764, as well as Abell 2390, also allow scientists to observe some of the most distant galaxies that lived in a mysterious period known as the cosmic dark ages. Euclid allows us to see these galaxies when the Universe was only 700 million years old, only 5% of its current age. Observing their light is a specialty of Euclid and allows us to witness the formation of the first galaxies.
Here, Euclid captures NGC 6744, one of the largest spiral galaxies beyond our local space. It is a typical example of the type of galaxy that currently forms most of the stars in the neighboring Universe, “making it a wonderful archetype to study with Euclid”.
The Dorado Group of galaxies is one of the richest galaxy groups in the Southern Hemisphere. Here, Euclid captures signs of galaxy evolution and merger “in action,” with “magnificent” tidal tails (a narrow, elongated region of stars and interstellar gas that extends out into space from a galaxy) and shells (bright, steep-edged arc-shaped structures) visible as a result of ongoing galaxy interactions. Because Dorado is much younger than other clusters, several of its constituent galaxies are still forming stars and remaining in phase of interaction with each other, while others show signs of having merged relatively recently. “In size, it falls between larger galaxy clusters and smaller galaxy groups, making it a useful and fascinating object to study with Euclid”, specifies Esa.
This image “breathtaking” presents Messier 78 (the central and brightest region), a star nursery enveloped in a shroud of interstellar dust. This image is “unprecedented” : This is the first shot of this young star forming region at this width and depth.
Euclid peered deep into this nursery using his infrared camera, exposing hidden regions of star formation for the first time, mapping its complex filaments of gas and dust in unprecedented detail, and discovering stars and newly formed planets. This is the first time we can see these smaller, substellar-sized objects in Messier 78; dark clouds of gas and dust usually hide them, but Euclid’s infrared “eyes” can see through these dark clouds to explore the interior.
The bright nebula NGC 2071 is also visible at the top of the frame, as well as a third star-forming filament toward the bottom of the image (with a traffic light-like appearance). This lower region is a dark nebula producing lower-mass stars, all arranged along elongated filaments in space.
