Euclid spacecraft captures 26 million galaxies in just one week

What just happened? The European Space Agency's Euclid mission released its first batch of survey data this week, providing a glimpse of hundreds of thousands of galaxies in diverse shapes and sizes, as well as numerous galaxy clusters, active galactic nuclei, and transient phenomena like supernovae and gamma-ray bursts. The data covers a substantial area of the sky in three mosaics, showcasing the mission's capability to explore the large-scale organization of galaxies within the cosmic web. "Euclid shows itself once again to be the ultimate discovery machine. It is surveying galaxies on the grandest scale, enabling us to explore our cosmic history and the invisible forces shaping our Universe," said ESA's Director of Science, Prof. Carole Mundell. She added that this data release unlocks a treasure trove of information for scientists to tackle some of the most intriguing questions in modern science. In just one week of observations, Euclid has identified 26 million galaxies, the fa ... Read full article.