This Thursday, the European Space Agency (ESA) released new images from the Euclid Space Telescope, demonstrating its ability to unlock the mysteries of the Universe and allow scientists to study its evolution.
Launched last July, Euclides includes several components produced by Portuguese companies. The first images recorded by the telescope were published in November 2023.
ESA also published the first scientific data obtained from the Dark Energy satellite mission (aimed at mapping the dark Universe), which are described in a series of 10 scientific papers, according to a statement from the organization.
The papers report several new discoveries, including newborn “floating” planets, newly identified extragalactic star clusters, new low-mass dwarf galaxies in a nearby galaxy cluster, and the distribution of dark matter in galaxy clusters.
“The Euclid mission is unique and innovative, and this is the first data to be made public – it’s an important milestone,” said Valeria Pettorino, a scientist associated with the ESA project, quoted in the statement.
“The images and associated scientific discoveries are impressively varied in terms of objects and observed distances. They allow for a variety of scientific applications and represent only 24 hours of observations. We are looking forward to another six years of data,” he adds.
Valeria Pettorino also points out that the telescope is designed to help answer “the biggest open questions in cosmology,” noting that these first observations “clearly demonstrate that Euclid is more than up to the task.”
The ESA mission is the first to try to understand what is actually accelerating the expansion of the universe, which cosmological theories say is driven by dark energy, a still unknown force that counters gravitational pull.
According to the statement, Euclid’s images are “at least four times sharper” than those available from ground-based telescopes and “cover large areas of the sky with unparalleled depth, observing the distant universe using visible and infrared light.” .” .
“Euclid demonstrates European excellence in advanced science and technology and shows the importance of international cooperation,” ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said as quoted in the statement.
“This mission is the result of many years of hard work by scientists, engineers and industry across Europe, as well as ESA members of the Euclid Science Consortium around the world. They can be proud of this achievement.”
The Euclid Consortium consists of more than 2,600 members, including more than a thousand researchers from more than 300 laboratories in 15 European countries, as well as Canada, Japan and the United States, from various fields of astrophysics, cosmology, theoretical physics and physics. particle physics.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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