(AFP, Darmstadt, 7th) The first images captured by Europe’s Euclid space telescope were released today, including horse-head-shaped nebulae, never-before-seen galaxies, and elusive “Indirect evidence” of dark matter.
Agence France-Presse reported that the Euclid Space Telescope was launched in July this year, striving to uncover the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy, the biggest mysteries of the universe.
The Euclid Space Telescope will create what it calls the most accurate 3D map of the universe in history by mapping 1/3 of the sky, covering 2 billion galaxies.
After the Euclid Space Telescope arrived at a stable hovering point about 1.5 million kilometers away from the Earth and rendezvoused with the James Webb Space Telescope, it began to transmit its first observation results back to the Earth.
The European Space Agency (ESA) announced the first five images captured by the Euclid Space Telescope at a press conference held at the European Space Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany.
European Space Agency Administrator Josef Aschbacher praised the more than 3,600 people who contributed to the project and praised it as “a milestone in European science and exploration.”
Carole Mundell, the European Space Agency’s science director, said that “rapidly capturing beautiful images of the vast sky with extremely precise speeds” demonstrates the capabilities of the Euclid Space Telescope.
The images include stunning views of the nearby Horsehead Nebula, as well as spiral and “irregular” galaxies.
But Euclid Space Telescope project scientist Rene Laureijs told AFP that for the research team, the most exciting thing is the image of the “Perseus Cluster” ; This is a distant galaxy cluster composed of more than 1,000 galaxies.
According to the European Space Agency, there are more than 100,000 galaxies lurking in the background of the Perseus galaxy cluster, some of which are 10 billion light-years away and have never been seen before.
The European Space Agency calls the Euclid Space Telescope the “dark universe detective” responsible for investigating why 95% of the universe seems to be composed of dark matter and dark energy, about which humans know very little.
By capturing light that takes 10 billion years to reach Earth’s vicinity, the Euclid Space Telescope also hopes to gain a deeper understanding of how dark energy has driven the expansion of the universe since the “Big Bang” 13.8 billion years ago.
