With contributions from NASA, the mission will complement dark energy studies being conducted by the agency’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman space telescope.
The Euclid mission, led by ESA (European Space Agency) with contributions from NASA, has released five new images that show the space telescope’s ability to explore two large-scale cosmic mysteries: dark matter and dark energy. Dark matter is an invisible substance five times more common in the universe than “normal” matter, but of unknown composition. “Dark energy” is the name given to the unknown source that causes the universe to expand faster and faster.
Between now and 2030, Euclid will create a cosmic map that will cover nearly a third of the sky, using a much wider field of view than NASA’s Hubble and James Webb space telescopes, designed to study smaller areas in greater detail. In this way, scientists will be able to map the presence of dark matter with greater precision than ever before. They will also be able to use this map to study how the strength of dark energy has changed over time.
The five new images show views of varying sizes – from a star-forming region in the Milky Way to clusters of hundreds of galaxies – and were taken shortly after the launch of Euclid in July 2023 as part of its early observations program. The mission released five images from that program last year as a preview of what Euclid would deliver, before scientists had analyzed the data.
Mission planners for NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman space telescope will use Euclid’s findings to inform Roman’s complementary work on dark energy. Scientists will use Roman, with its greater sensitivity and sharpness, to expand the kind of science Euclid enables by studying fainter, more distant galaxies.
Messier 78, this is one of the brightest nebulae in our sky and is a site of active star formation. ESA/ Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard License
NGC 6744, a barred spiral galaxy currently forming stars at a remarkable rate within our local universe. This galaxy is often called a double of our own Milky Way galaxy because of their similarities. ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard License
The galaxy cluster Abell 2764. Galaxy clusters like this are among the largest and most massive structures in the universe, held together by gravity. It is made up of hundreds to thousands of galaxies and hot gas interacting in a dark matter halo.. ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard License
Galaxies in the Dorado Group are captured by Euclid in the midst of forming, evolving, and even merging in astonishing detail. ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard License
The galaxy cluster Abell 2390. Euclid reveals a stunning display of more than 50,000 galaxies, some representing an impressive array of gravitational lenses. ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard License
For more information about Euclid, visit
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/euclid/main/index.html
For more information about Roman, visit
https://roman.gsfc.nasa.gov
