First section of Euclid space telescope's map of the universe revealed

The Euclid space telescope, launched in 2023 by the European Space Agency (ESA) with NASA's contributions, has unveiled the first section of what will be the largest 3D map of the universe. This initial release features a mosaic of 208 gigapixels, covering just 1% of the final map, which aims to capture billions of galaxies and tens of millions of stars in the Milky Way. The mission's primary objective is to explore dark energy and dark matter, which constitute 95% of the universe, by providing a detailed view of the universe's evolution over six years of observations. The released images showcase the telescope's capability to capture high-resolution images of vast areas of the sky, revealing previously unseen details such as faint galactic cirrus clouds and individual stars. Notable features in the mosaic include the spiral galaxy NGC 2188 and the galaxy cluster Abell 3381. The data collected thus far promises to lead to significant astronomical discoveries as the project progresses.

- The Euclid telescope aims to create the largest 3D map of the universe.

- The first images reveal 14 million galaxies and millions of stars in high detail.

- The mission focuses on understanding dark energy and dark matter.

- The initial mosaic covers only 1% of the planned final map.

- The project will span six years and cover a third of the sky.