The European Space Agency (ESA) released the first batch of images and data for its Euclid space telescope. The images focus on Euclid’s three deep field areas, patches of sky the telescope will observe dozens of times to peer deep into the cosmos. Though the new release only contains Euclid’s first look into these areas, it has already provided astronomers with a treasure trove of data on galaxies and other cosmic phenomena.
Euclid was launched atop a Falcon 9 in early July 2023 on a mission to map nearly a third of the sky in incredible detail. With Euclid’s observations, astronomers want to explore the history of the universe and reveal the nature of dark energy and dark matter. Since the launch, ESA has published a few glimpses into the telescope’s capabilities, including spectacular views of nebulae, galaxies, galaxy clusters, and an image representing the first 1% of Euclid’s survey.
The latest release, Quick Data Release 1 (Q1), covers the largest area of the sky so far — 63 square degrees, or over 300 times the size of a full Moon — and results from only one week of observations. Astronomers collaborated with citizen scientists to train artificial intelligence (AI) to catalog hundreds of gravitational lenses and the shapes of hundreds of thousands of galaxies.