Nov. 7 (UPI) — The European Space Agency on Tuesday released the first images from its Euclid space telescope, which is designed to observe deep space in the hopes of unlocking the mysteries of the universe.
The five detailed images show the Perseus Galaxy Cluster, the IC 342 spiral galaxy, globular cluster NGC 6397, irregular galaxy NGC 6822, and the Horseshoe Nebula.
“Never before has a telescope been able to create such razor-sharp astronomical images across such a large patch of the sky, and looking so far into the distance universe,” the European Space Agency said in a press release Tuesday.
The Euclid space telescope was launched in July aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and is tasked with collecting images that will be used to create the most detailed 3D model of the universe to date.
Researchers also hope data collected from the mission can help them understand the dark matter, which makes up most of the physical weight of the universe and dark energy, the force that appears to drive the expansion of the universe, which is accelerating faster than scientists can account for based on the mass of the universe as it is understood.
“To reveal the ‘dark’ influence on the visible universe, over the next six years Euclid will observe the shapes, distances and motions of billions of galaxies out to 20 billion light-years,” the ESA said.
