2 minute read
Euclid dazzles with first images
from Contact 14
BY CASSANDRA CAVALLARO (SKAO)
At 1.6 million light years from Earth, NGC 6822 is our relatively near neighbour in galactic terms.
This view of the irregular dwarf galaxy is among the first five full-colour images from the European Space Agency’s optical/near-infrared Euclid space mission. The full set can be viewed in high resolution here, and includes a panoramic view of the famous Horsehead Nebula.
The telescope will map the large-scale structure of the Universe in order to reveal more about the role of gravity, and the nature of dark energy and dark matter. It will study more than a third of the sky, taking in billions of galaxies at distances of up to 10 billion light years.
Euclid’s strength is in being able to observe vast areas of the sky quickly; this image represents around an hour of observation time. It is among a suite of new facilities which will be highly complementary to the SKA telescopes, as our feature in this edition of Contact explains.
