Space

Euclid Telescope Unveils Data on 900 Million Galaxies

Is Euclid's vast sky survey the fastest route to cracking dark energy or is it mapping more sky with equations broken at the foundation?

2 hours ago·Updated 24 minutes ago

Euclid Telescope Unveils Data on 900 Million Galaxies

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Above: Euclid unveils a billion celestial objects. Image credit: CNES via X

The Facts

The European Space Agency released the first major batch of data from its Euclid telescope Thursday, covering more than 900 million galaxies across a patch of sky equal to about 9,500 full moons and totaling roughly 1.7 million gigabytes.
Daily Mail
Reuters
Euclid launched in July 2023 to map more than a third of the sky and over 10 billion years of cosmic history, targeting dark energy and dark matter, thought to account for about 70% and 25% of the universe, respectively.
Daily Mail
The Guardian
The dataset contains about 15,000 strong gravitational lens candidates, exceeding the total found over the previous half-century, when roughly 1,000 cases were known. An estimated 170,000 are expected by the end of the mission.
Reuters
The Guardian
Named DR1 Foundation, the release spans about 13 months of observations across 1,900 square degrees, roughly 14% of the sky area Euclid will eventually survey. The full Data Release 1 is scheduled for mid-2027.
Mirage News
University of Innsbruck
Spain's ICE-CSIC, IFAE and IEEC designed and built the filter-wheel assembly for Euclid's NISP instrument, while the Max Planck Institutes in Heidelberg and Garching supplied optical components for the NISP and VIS instruments.
Max Planck Society (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft)
Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC)
Astronomer Francine Marleau estimates the release holds several hundred thousand dwarf galaxies and expects more than 2 million by the mission's end, while researchers note the dataset is now too large for any one person to inspect.
Around Prague
University of Innsbruck

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The Spin

Narrative A

This is a remarkable leap in humanity’s understanding of the cosmos. Pouring 15 years of preparation and tens of millions of euros into Euclid is paying off with the largest space-based image dataset astronomy has ever had. Covering just 14% of the planned survey and already delivering the biggest strong-lens catalog ever assembled, the mission is the fastest route to cracking dark energy.

Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) on X

Max Planck Society (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft)

Narrative B

Despite the extraordinary scale of Euclid's findings, discovering 900 million galaxies does not mean scientists are close to solving the universe's deepest mysteries. Dark matter and dark energy remain poorly understood, and gravitational lensing offers clues rather than definitive answers. The mission is a scientific milestone, but claims of unlocking the dark universe remain premature.

Elon Musk on X