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Euclid Telescope Releases First Data, Mapping 26 Million Galaxies

The European Space Agency's groundbreaking mission to explore dark matter and dark energy has unveiled its first dataset, offering insights into the cosmic web and gravitational lensing.

A combination image shows examples of galaxies in different shapes, all captured by the Euclid space telescope during its first observations of three Deep Field areas of the sky, in this handout released by the European Space Agency on March 19, 2025. As part of a Euclid data release, a detailed catalogue of more than 380,000 galaxies was published, classified according to features such as spiral arms, central bars and tidal tails that infer merging galaxies. ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by M. Walmsley, M. Huertas-Company, J.-C. Cuillandre/Handout via REUTERS
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Image shows an area of a patch of sky called the Deep Field South observed by the Euclid space telescope, in this handout released by the European Space Agency on March 19, 2025. Various huge galaxy clusters are visible in this image, as well as intra-cluster light and gravitational lenses. The cluster near the center is called J041110.98-481939.3, and is located almost 6 billion light-years away. European Space Agency(ESA)/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre, E. Bertin, G. Anselmi/Handout via REUTERS
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Overview

  • The initial data release includes observations of 26 million galaxies across three deep fields, covering 63 square degrees of the sky—just 0.4% of the total survey area.
  • Researchers identified 500 strong gravitational lensing candidates, doubling the number previously known and providing new tools to study dark matter.
  • The dataset hints at the large-scale structure of the universe, known as the cosmic web, shaped by dark matter and dark energy.
  • AI and citizen science played a crucial role in processing the data, classifying 380,000 galaxies and identifying rare phenomena like double gravitational lenses.
  • Euclid's six-year mission aims to map 1.5 billion galaxies, with the next major data release planned for October 2026, covering a much larger area.