The ESA publishes the first images of the Euclid telescope's 3D Atlas to explore the dark universe.

The Euclid telescope from the European Space Agency (ESA), dedicated to exploring the dark universe, has provided a first glimpse of its developing three-dimensional map. The newly released image includes approximately 100 million stars from the Milky Way and galaxies beyond our own. According to the ESA, this mosaic image covers an area of the sky that exceeds more than 500 times the surface area of a full moon and represents only 1% of the research that will be conducted over six years.

Launched in July 2023, Euclid began its scientific operations in February of this year. Its goal is to create the most extensive 3D map of the universe, which will unveil secrets about dark matter and dark energy, essential components of the dark universe. The mosaic image was created from 260 observations made between March 25 and April 8 and is visible in blue light thanks to the faint clouds that exist between the stars of our galaxy, detected by Euclid's high-sensitivity visible light camera. These clouds, composed of a mixture of gas and dust, are known as 'galactic cirrus' due to their similarity to cirrus clouds observed on Earth.

Valeria Pettorino, a scientist on the Euclid project at ESA, emphasized that this stunning image is the first piece of a map that, in six years, will reveal more than a third of the sky. Although it is only 1% of the map, it contains a variety of sources that will help scientists find new ways to describe the universe.

The mosaic image includes around 14 million galaxies which, according to researchers, could be crucial for studying the hidden influence of dark matter and dark energy in our cosmos. Thanks to Euclid's 600-megapixel camera resolution, some images have been enlarged more than 600 times, showing the galaxies in impressive detail. Since February, Euclid has completed 12% of its survey, and the release of data for 53 square degrees is expected to occur in 2025. A year later, the ESA will unveil cosmology data from the mission's first year.