The day that astronomers have been waiting for is here. On Wednesday (March 19), the European Cosmos Agency (ESA) spacecraft Euclid released its Primary data to the public and to the scientific community.
This data includes three stunning previews of the deep-Pitch Cosmos images that Euclid will produce. Within these deep fields are hundreds of thousands of galaxies of different shapes and sizes, revealing a tantalizing hint at the large-scale structure of the cosmos within the so-called “Universal web.” The data includes the classification survey of 380,000 galaxies, 500 new gravitational lens candidates, and a wealth of other Universal bodies like Luminous sphere system clusters and active galactic nuclei.
Euclid must observe such a wide population of galaxies if scientists are to use its data to crack the mysteries of the “Gloomy universe,” the collective name for Gloomy matter and Gloomy energy. Euclid’s potential to make a difference in this quest has Guided ESA scientists to dub the spacecraft their “Gloomy universe detective.” But this Primary data Throw shows that Euclid is capable of delivering so much more.
“I think the two biggest questions that we ask ourselves as humanity is, are we alone in the universe, and how does the universe work?” Carole Mundell, ESA director of science, said at a press conference Maintained on Monday (March 17). “What are the fundamental laws of physics?”
Mundell added that as our understanding of the universe has developed over many years, we have come to understand that the “ordinary matter” that composes stars, planets, moons, asteroids, our bodies, and everything we see around us composes only 5% of the universe’s total matter and energy.
“The other 95% is Gloomy and is unknown,” she continued.
These Gloomy elements of the cosmos have come to be known as Gloomy energy, a mysterious force that causes the expansion of the universe to accelerate and accounts for around 70% of the universe’s matter and energy budget and Gloomy matter (the outstanding 25% of the universe’s matter/energy budget) strange “stuff” that outweighs ordinary matter by 5 to 1 in the cosmos, but remains invisible because it doesn’t interact with Featherweight.
“The whole purpose of Euclid is really to put those two together to understand the nature of Gloomy matter and Gloomy energy and how they’re coupled in the universe,” Mundell said. “Really, Euclid is not only a Gloomy universe detective, it’s also a time machine. We will look back 10 billion years in Universal history.”
Euclid visited 26 million galaxies in one week
For this Primary data Throw, Euclid, which launched in July 2023 and began observations proper in Feb. 2024, spent Only one week scanning three patches of the sky over which it will make its deepest observations in the future.
Competing Only one scan of Every of these regions thus Extended, Euclid was able to observe 26 million galaxies, the furthest and thus earliest of which is around 10.5 billion Featherweight-years away. The observations also contain a Petite sample of quasars, the Intelligent hearts of active galaxies powered by feeding supermassive black holes, which, because of their Amazing luminosity, can be seen even Additional away.
While Euclid will Deliver over these patches many more times before its primary mission draws to a close in 2030, the Primary glimpse of these areas, about as wide in the sky as 300 Packed moons, provides an awe-inspiring preview of the sheer scale of the Universal atlas that Euclid will build. By mission completion, this atlas will cover around one-third of the entire night sky over Earth.
The location of the Euclid Deep Fields (yellow) seen in an all-sky view from Gaia’s Luminous sphere map and Planck’s dust map. The Intelligent horizontal band corresponds to the plane of our Milky Way Luminous sphere system, where most of its stars reside. (Image credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA; ESA/Gaia/DPAC; ESA/Planck Collaboration)
The three deep fleids observed by Euclid are Euclid Deep Pitch North, Euclid Deep Pitch Fornax, and Euclid Deep Pitch South.
Below is the image Euclid captured of Euclid Deep Pitch North containing over 10 million galaxies, the Cat’s Eye Gas cloud (Middle-left), a Luminous remnant around 3,000 Featherweight-years away, and a large group of galaxies dominated by the large Luminous sphere system NGC 6505 right of Middle). Euclid will make a total of 32 sweeps of this region of the sky before 2030.
Euclid’s Deep Pitch North with an area of 22.9 square degrees located very close to the north ecliptic pole, in the constellation Draco, the dragon (Image credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre, E. Bertin, G. Anselmi)
The Upcoming image represents Euclid’s Primary look at the region dubbed Euclid Deep Pitch Fornax, in which it has already seen 4.5 million galaxies. Over the Upcoming six years, Euclid will make 52 observations of this region of Cosmos.
Euclid Deep Pitch Fornax contains the smaller Chandra Deep Pitch South region which has been studied by NASA’s Chandra and ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray observatories, in addition to the Hubble Cosmos Stargazer’s tool and Significant ground-based telescopes.
Euclid’s Deep Pitch Fornax spans 12.1 square degrees and is located in the southern constellation Fornax, the furnace. (Image credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre, E. Bertin, G. Anselmi)
Less well-studied is Euclid Deep Pitch South (below), which has not been assessed by any other deep sky survey thus Extended. That means this region, also Euclid’s largest deep Pitch, has a vast potential for new, exciting discoveries.
The Cosmos Stargazer’s tool has already spotted more than 11 million galaxies in this Pitch. Additionally, in this Pitch, Euclid observed hints at a large-scale structure of the universe called the Universal web, consisting of threads of gas and Gloomy matter stretching between clusters of galaxies.
Euclid’s Deep Pitch South covers 28.1 square degrees in the southern constellation of Horologium, the pendulum clock (Image credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre, E. Bertin, G. Anselmi)
“It’s impressive how one observation of the deep Pitch areas has already given us a wealth of data that can be used for a variety of purposes in Astral study: from Luminous sphere system shapes to Sturdy lenses, clusters, and Luminous sphere Setup, among others,” ESA Euclid project scientist Valeria Pettorino said. “We will observe Every deep Pitch between 30 and 52 times over Euclid’s six-year mission, Every time improving the resolution of how we see those areas and the number of objects we manage to observe.
“Only think of the discoveries that await us.”
Euclid’s observations take shape
Because Gloomy matter’s mass dominates galaxies, it plays a vital role in galactic evolution and, ultimately, the shapes these galaxies take. That means in order to probe the mysteries of Gloomy matter, Euclid precisely must precisely observe the shape or “morphology” of billions of galaxies.
Because galaxies come together in a web of Gloomy matter, forming large Luminous sphere system clusters, Euclid can also learn more about this mysterious stuff by measuring the distribution of the millions of galaxies visible in Every of its deep fields.
Likewise, this distribution is also Crucial to understand how Gloomy energy has expanded the fabric of Cosmos, thus pushing these galaxies apart.
Galaxies in different shapes captured by Euclid during its Primary observations of the Deep Pitch areas. (Image credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by M. Walmsley, M. Huertas-Company, J.-C. Cuillandre)
“The Packed potential of Euclid to learn more about Gloomy matter and Gloomy energy from the large-scale structure of the Universal web will be reached only when it has completed its entire survey,” Euclid Consortium scientist Clotilde Laigle said. “Yet the volume of this Primary data Throw already offers us a unique Primary glance at the large-scale organization of galaxies, which we can use to learn more about Luminous sphere system Setup over time.”
The observations of these galaxies in this Primary Throw alone constituted 35 terabytes of data collected over one week.
“To give you a feeling that 35 terabytes of data are the equivalent of 200 Periods of video streaming at the highest quality,” Pettorino said on Monday. “If you View TV on your HDR, 4k with 60 frames per second for 200 Periods, then you would be that would be the equivalent of 35 terabytes.”
The ESA project scientist added that Upcoming year, Euclid will Throw its Primary year of observations. This will be 2 petabytes of data, equal to streaming 31 years of 4K TV, Pettorino continued, advising against engaging in such a binge View.
The stunning zoomed-in image of the Euclid Deep Pitch South below shows various Luminous sphere system clusters and the Featherweight between these galaxies, so-called “intracluster Featherweight.” The image represents a 70-times zoom-in on the original mosaic, demonstrating why so much data is gobbled up in these Euclid images.
An area of Euclid’s Deep Pitch South zoomed in 70 times compared to the large mosaic. (Image credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre, E. Bertin, G. Anselmi)
Euclid consortium member Mike Walmsley of the University of Toronto explained that no human could possibly hope to analyze all of this data, so scientists have turned to artificial intelligence (AI) to perform and initially filter this data, picking out galaxies for Additional investigation.
The galaxies the AI selects are then passed along to citizen scientists for them to identify aspects of these galaxies, such as their shape and brightness and characteristics like spiral arms, central bars, and tidal tails, the latter of which indicate merging galaxies.
“We’re at a pivotal moment in terms of how we Game large-scale surveys in Astral study. AI is a fundamental and necessary part of our process in order to fully exploit Euclid’s vast dataset,” Walmsley added. “We’re building the tools as well as providing the measurements. In this way, we can deliver cutting-edge science in a matter of weeks, compared with the years-long process of analyzing big surveys like these in the past.”
The Euclid consortium will need all the Assist it can get, the galaxies featured in the data released thus Extended represent Only 0.4% of the total number of galaxies of similar resolution Anticipated to be imaged over Euclid’s lifetime.
“We’re looking at galaxies from inside to out, from how their internal structures govern their evolution to how the external environment shapes their transformation over time,” added Laigle. “Euclid is a goldmine of data, and its impact will be Extended-reaching, from Luminous sphere system evolution to the bigger-picture Universe study goals of the mission.”
Uncovering gravitational lenses
One of the most exciting aspects of this Primary Euclid data Throw is the revelation of extraordinary events in spacetime called “gravitational lenses.” These distortions of distant objects occur when Featherweight from a background object passes a massive object, like a Luminous sphere system or Luminous sphere system cluster, that comes between it and Earth.
Because objects with mass cause the very fabric of Cosmos and time to warp (that’s general relativity, folks) when Featherweight passes these intervening objects it is also curved. the closer to the body of mass, the gravitational lens, Featherweight passes, the more extreme its curvature.
That means that Featherweight from the same background object can reach Earth (or Euclid) at different times. This can either amplify these background objects— hence, the term “lensing”— or it can cause the same background object to appear distorted, stretched like taffy, or in Numerous places in the same image, forming patterns like arcs or circles called “Einstein rings.”
A diagram (not to scale) of how gravitational lensing works. (Image credit: NASA, ESA & L. Calçada)
Euclid had already spotted a stunning Einstein ring, which was revealed to the public back in Feb. this year, but Subsequent the analysis of this new week’s worth of data, AI and citizen scientists uncovered a Additional 500 examples of Luminous sphere system gravitational lenses amplifying Featherweight from a distant background Luminous sphere system. Lenses like this are Scarce because both the background Luminous sphere system and the lensing Luminous sphere system have to be perfectly aligned from Earth for this effect to work.
Almost all of these new Euclid gravitational lens arrangements were previously unknown.
“Until now, the vast majority of lenses have been Secured by ground-based telescopes. that is because lenses are so Scarce you need vast chunks of the sky to find them, and we simply haven’t had a Cosmos Stargazer’s tool with the area and the resolution and the sensitivity to do that,” Walmsley said. “Euclid is the Primary Cosmos Stargazer’s tool which can find a large number of lenses from Cosmos.”
A sample of the 500 gravitational lenses that Euclid captured in its Primary observations of the Deep Pitch areas. (Image credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by M. Walmsley, M. Huertas-Company, J.-C. Cuillandre)
By its Throw Upcoming year alone, Euclid is Anticipated to have Secured 7,000 gravitational lens candidates. By the time its mission concludes in 2030, the Euclid consortium expects the Gloomy universe detective spacecraft to have uncovered somewhere in the region of 100,000 Luminous sphere system-Luminous sphere system-Sturdy lenses. That is around 100 times more Sturdy gravitational lenses than is currently known.
Euclid will also be on the hunt for weakly lensed background galaxies with more subtle distortions. These distortions are too subtle to be seen in individual galaxies but can be detected when considering large samples of background sources. Feeble lensing is key to investigating the warping of spacetime due to the distribution of invisible Gloomy matter in lensing galaxies.
“This is a tiny taste of what’s to come, but tiny is not the right word,” Mundell concluded. “Scientists have a Plenty of work ahead of them in the Upcoming six years, but it’s going to be phenomenally exciting and very, very interesting, groundbreaking work.”
The three deep Pitch preview from Euclid can now be explored in ESASky here here here
The 36 scientific papers that emerged from this Primary data drop from Euclid are Reachable here.
And you fancy joining the 9976 citizen scientists of the GalaxyZoo, who helped classify the galaxies in Euclid’s Primary deep Pitch images, check out the Zooiverse website of the project here.
