2023-11-07 15:50:05
Never before has a telescope been able to create such sharp astronomical images across such a large portion of the sky, and looking so far into the distant universe. The space mission just achieved it Euclid of the European Space Agency (ESA), by providing its first full-color images of the universe.
Five spectacular images reveal the full potential of Euclid: the Perseus galaxy cluster, the spiral galaxy IC 342, the irregular NGC 6822, the globular cluster NGC 6397 and the Horsehead Nebula.
Together, they show that the telescope is ready to create the most extensive 3D map of the universe to date, to uncover some of its hidden secrets.
These first images show that the Euclid telescope is ready to create the most extensive 3D map of the universe and discover some of its hidden secrets
Euclid, our dark universe detective has a difficult task: investigate how dark matter and energy have made the universe its current appearance. 95% of our cosmos seems to be made up of these mysterious “dark” entities But we don’t understand what they are because their presence only causes very subtle changes in the appearance and movements of the things we can see.
To reveal the “dark” influence in the visible universe, Euclid will observe over the next six years the shapes, distances and movements of billions of galaxies up to a distance of 10 billion light years. In this way, he will create the three-dimensional map.
Visible and infrared image
What makes Euclid’s vision of the cosmos special is his ability to create a Extraordinarily sharp visible and infrared image of a large part of the sky in a single session.
The images, which are now published, show this special ability: from bright stars to faint galaxies, the observations reveal the entirety of these celestial objects, while maintaining a extreme sharpnesseven when zooming in on distant galaxies.
Spiral galaxy IC 342 captured by Euclid. /ESA
“Dark matter pulls galaxies together and makes them spin faster than visible matter alone can explain; Dark energy is driving the accelerated expansion of the universe. “Euclid will allow cosmologists to jointly study these competing dark mysteries for the first time,” explains ESA’s scientific director, Professor Carole Mundellalso director of the ESAC center that the agency has near Madrid.
Euclid will for the first time allow cosmologists to study dark energy and dark matter together, a leap in our understanding of the universe
Carole Mundell (ESA Chief Scientific Officer)
“Euclid will represent a leap in our understanding of the cosmos as a whole, and these amazing images from this mission demonstrate that it is poised to help answer one of the greatest mysteries of modern physics,” he adds.
René Laureijsa scientist with ESA’s Project Euclid, highlights that “we have never seen astronomical images like these before, in such detail. They are even more beautiful and sharper than we could expect, and show us many features never before seen in well-known areas of the nearby universe. We are now prepared to observe billions of galaxies and study their evolution over cosmic time,” he says.
Globular cluster NGC 6397 seen by the Euclid telescope. / THAT
In the opinion of Giuseppe Raccadirector of ESA’s Project Euclid, “the high standards for this telescope have been worth it: that there is so much detail in these images is all thanks to a special optical design, perfect manufacturing and assembly of telescope and instruments, and a temperature control and extremely precise aiming,” he adds.
For his part, the director general of ESA, Josef Aschbachercongratulated and thanked “all those involved in making this ambitious mission a reality, a reflection of European excellence and international collaboration. The first images captured by Euclid are overwhelming and remind us why it is essential that we go to space to learn more about the mysteries of the universe.
European mission with NASA collaboration
Euclid is a European mission, built and operated by ESA, with contributions from NASA. The Euclid Consortium – made up of more than 2,000 scientists from 300 institutes in 13 European countriesUSA, Canada and Japan – is responsible for providing scientific instruments and analysis of scientific data.
ESA selected Thales Alenia Space as prime contractor for the construction of the satellite and its service module, while Airbus Defense and Space was chosen to develop the payload module, including the telescope. NASA provided the detectors for the near-infrared spectrometer and photometer, NISP. Euclid is a medium-class mission of ESA’s Cosmic Vision Programme.
Irregular galaxy NGC 6822 seen by Euclid. /ESA
Spanish participation in Euclid
The Spanish contribution to the Euclid telescope payload has been organized around two nodes that joined the scientific consortium in 2010. On the one hand, the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC)he Institute of High Energy Physics (IFAE)he Institute of Spatial Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) and the Scientific Information Port (PIC) have been responsible for the design, construction, assembly and tests validation of the NISP instrument filter wheel, as well as the mission’s cosmological simulations.
On the other hand, the Polytechnic University of Cartagena (UPCT) and the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC), have taken care of the electronic unit that controls the NISP instrument and its boot software. In addition, both nodes participate in several teams preparing the scientific exploitation of the telescope data. Furthermore, in more than 20 Spanish institutions there are around 100 scientists preparing the scientific exploitation of the mission to unravel the mysteries of the dark universe. This scientific data is managed and distributed from the ESA ESAC center in Villanueva de la Cañada (Madrid).
In addition, around 80 European companies participate in Euclid, of which almost a dozen are Spanish, among them Airbus, Alter Technology, Crisa, Deimos Space, GTD, Navair, Sener and Thales Alenia Space Spain.
Fuente: ESA/CSIC
Rights: Creative Commons.
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