Europe’s ‘dark universe’ telescope shares first scientific data and new cosmic images

A space mission exploring the dark universe has released itsfirst scientific data and five new extraterrestrial snapshots.

Captured by theEuropean Space Agencys(ESA)Euclidtelescope, the observations paint a never-before-seen picture of the cosmos.

They also offer new insights into theproperties of celestial bodies.

The images areat least four times sharper than any taken from ground-based telescopes, according to ESA.

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The new images offer a glimpse of whats to come for Euclid.

An image of spiral galaxy NGC 6744 captured by ESA’s Euclid space telescope

Over its six-year life, the telescope will observe billions of galaxies up to 10 billion light years away.

Collectively, theyre set to create the biggest ever 3D map of the sky.

The map will offer new data on the universes expansion and the workings of gravity.

An image of galaxy cluster Abell 2764 captured by ESA’s Euclid space telescope

It will also investigatedark energy and dark matter.

And these early observations clearly demonstrate thatEuclidis more than up to the task.

Story byThomas Macaulay

Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.

An image of galaxy cluster Abell 2390 captured by ESA’s Euclid space telescope

He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.

Away from work, he e(show all)Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.

He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.

An image of star-forming region Messier 78 captured by ESA’s Euclid space telescope

Away from work, he enjoys playing chess (badly) and the guitar (even worse).

An image of the Dorado Group of galaxies captured by ESA’s Euclid space telescope