The Euclid Consortium is today publishing the first scientific papers resulting from observations made with the Euclid space telescope. Researchers from the University of Liège, involved in the Consortium, comment on these results and their involvement. These exciting results demonstrate the power of this mission, which is designed to provide the most accurate map of our Universe. Launched in July 2023, the telescope passed through the test benches at the Liège Space Centre (CSL) in November 2021.
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aunched on 1 July 2023, the telescope successfully began its cosmological survey on 14 February 2024. During an Early Release Observation (ERO) phase, Euclid consortium scientists observed and analysed several scientifically remarkable targets, providing a glimpse of this telescope's unprecedented capability.
The initial results reveal many unexpected and exciting things. New planets have been discovered floating freely in our galaxy, and a myriad of globular clusters around nearby galaxies. These globular clusters are particularly visible around dwarf galaxies, which have extremely low surface brightness, and detecting them remains an incredible technological challenge. The first analyses are already yielding their share of results, revealing extremely distant galaxies that can be observed thanks to the gravitational lensing effect.
"These images are of exceptional depth and quality. Just one of these images, such as that of the Perseus cluster or the more distant clusters of galaxies Abell 2390 and Abell 2764, reveals several hundred thousands distant galaxies. Their study allows us to probe the visible and invisible matter content of the Universe." explains Dominique Sluse, astrophysicist at the University of Liège
All these results are described in a series of ten scientific publications accompanied by reference articles from the mission, confirming Euclid's exceptional performance. The reference articles, published today, provide a complete framework of the mission, including the design of the VIS and NISP instruments, and the Euclid Flagship simulation. These documents will serve as the basis for the entire mission.
First observations and discoveries
Preliminary observations have been made, offering a glimpse of the scientific diversity that Euclid can provide. Notable discoveries include new floating planets, bright and distant galaxies, and globular clusters. The images and data collected demonstrate Euclid's ability to analyse a variety of targets with exceptional precision.
"Euclid is changing the way we look at things. Imagine being faced with a jigsaw puzzle: in the past, to get high-resolution images of a large field, you had to look at the sky piece by piece, and then wait until you had observed a thousand images to get a global view. Those days are over. Thanks to Euclid, we can see all 1,000 pieces in one go - it's incredible! I was involved in the analysis of the galaxy clusters Abell 2390 and Abell 2764, and I'm studying in dark matter and how its distribution in these galaxy clusters. The first results show that it extends over very large distances and tells us something about how the universe is structured over time", explains Guillaume Mahler, a researcher at the MEGA Lab.
"The Perseus cluster of galaxies is one of the most massive structures in the nearby Universe, located at a distance of 240 million light years from Earth. The Euclid data offer us an excellent opportunity to study and understand the interactions and history of all its members, from the smallest to the largest, and from the oldest to the youngest". Explains Angelos Nersesian, a BELSPO-funded post-doctoral researcher at ULiège, working on the analysis of images of the Perseus cluster.
The next data release is scheduled for March 2025, with regular broadcasts until 2031. The current results represent just a fraction of Euclid's potential, promising many more discoveries to come.
Together with the European Space Agency (ESA), the Euclid consortium has designed and operates the Euclid space telescope, which will be launched on 1 July 2023. Its mission: to map the extragalactic sky over six years to shed light on dark energy and dark matter. The Euclid Consortium has more than 2,600 members from 15 European countries, as well as Canada, Japan and the United States, working in a variety of scientific fields.
Read Euclid, a European space telescope to reveal the invisible Universe...
Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard Licence.
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