The first images of the Euclid telescope guarantee its availability to provide meaningful information

2023/11/14 Galarraga Aiestaran, Ana - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astrofisika

ESA has just published the first images of the Euclid mission. The goal of the Euclid telescope is to make a precise 3D map of the universe and study dark materials and energies within it. In fact, these dark entities make up 95 percent of the universe. Based on the first images of Euclides, the space agency confirms that the telescope is ready to fulfill its mission.

In fact, they have shown five photographs: Zaldi Buru nebula, cluster of Perseus galaxies, spiral galaxy IC 342, irregular galaxy NGC 6822 and globular cluster NGC 6397. The image resolution demonstrates Euclide's ability, as it is able to show in the same image what is collected in the visible and infrared light, allowing for significant information such as the joint analysis of energy and dark matter.

For example, Euclide's infrared vision has allowed us to state that the galaxy IC 342 is similar to the Milky Way. The NGC 6397 cluster, meanwhile, is the closest to Earth (7800 light-years), so Euclid has seen stars that so far have not been able to identify other telescopes in the image he received.

The Euclid telescope is expected to work for six years and analyse the shapes, distances and movements of galaxies up to 10000 million light-years for a precise 3D map.