Mapping one-third of the sky in unprecedented detail, the European Space Agency’s Euclid mission has released more than 900 million galaxies in its first major data drop, Yahoo Tech reported.
Euclid maps 14 percent of sky
Launched in July 2023, the European Space Agency mission aims to construct the largest cosmic map ever created, spanning over 10 billion years of history. The initial data release covers roughly 14 percent of the target area, according to Yahoo Tech. Project scientist Valeria Pettorino said earlier releases covered just a few days over roughly 60 square degrees, while this catalog spans over a year of observations across 1,900 square degrees.
“It's the biggest high-resolution image of the universe we've ever had,” said Prof Andy Taylor of the University of Edinburgh, who is in charge of the UK science ground segment for the project.
The dataset includes more than 60 million potential quasars and 1.7 million gigabytes of raw telemetry. It also captures spectra from more than 160 million sources, providing researchers with the necessary inputs to build a detailed 3D map of the cosmos.
Strong gravitational lensing targets dark matter
Among the discoveries are roughly 15,000 probable cases of strong gravitational lensing, a magnification effect where a foreground galaxy bends light from a distant background object. Researchers previously knew of about 1,000 such cases, The Guardian reported.
“With strong gravitational lensing, you find out how the dark matter is clumping and that’s very diagnostic of the type of matter that it is, because different types of matter can clump in very different ways,” Stephen Serjeant, a professor of astronomy at the Open University, told The Guardian.
Natalie Lines of the University of Portsmouth said that strong lensing allows astronomers to weigh individual galaxies, including invisible dark matter, and study the expansion rate of the universe.
Ancient galaxy clusters tracked by researchers
Barbara Sartoris of the JL Lagrange laboratory in Nice, France, said that Euclid captures large samples of ancient clusters across vast areas that remained previously out of reach. Her research team will study how these massive structures grew over cosmic time.
Prof Andy Taylor of the University of Edinburgh, who heads the UK science ground segment for the mission, highlighted the massive magnitude of these results. “No human eyeball is able to look at all of the Euclid data any more. It’s now too big,” Taylor told The Guardian.
Common questions about the Euclid cosmic survey
- When did the Euclid telescope launch?
- The European Space Agency launched the Euclid mission in July 2023.
- How many galaxies does the new data include?
- The initial data release contains over 900 million galaxies and more than 60 million quasar candidates.
- When is the next Euclid data release scheduled?
- A further release of data is expected to land in summer 2025, while the full Data Release 1 is scheduled for mid-2027.
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