A new cosmic atlas is taking shape thanks to the European space telescope Euclid. Published earlier this month, the first image mosaic may include 14 million galaxies, but it only represents 1% of what will be the final map.
Excited by the luxury of detail, the scientific director of the European Space Agency (ESA), Carole Mundell, estimated that to present this mosaic of 260 images in high resolution, more than 16,000 4K TV screens would be needed. The first results were presented on October 15 as part of the International Astronautical Congress in Italy.
The sky of the Southern Hemisphere
The ensemble, which covers a region of the sky in the Southern Hemisphere, required two weeks of observations by Euclid in March and April. This puzzle of 260 images is therefore destined to become itself a very small part of the immense final puzzle.
Launched in July 2023, Euclid had “delivered” its first images in November of the same year, already offering a taste of the precision to come. The space telescope, located a million and a half kilometers from Earth, is designed to produce, over the next five years, the most precise 3D map of the cosmos – or “cosmic atlas” – ever made, representing a third of our night sky.
