"Euclidean" detects billions of "orphan" stars in unprecedented images of the universe

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The European Euclid Telescope has sent back the largest images of the universe ever taken from space in its quest to uncover the secrets of the universe.

The five images released by the European Space Agency (ESA) capture vast new areas of the sky in unprecedented detail, providing an exciting glimpse into the distant cosmic past.

According to Dr. Michelle Collins, from the University of Surrey, who helped the Euclid team identify potential new galaxies in the images: “These stunning first images are just the tip of the iceberg. This telescope could detect millions of new objects in a single day. We are just getting started.” Realizing its potential.”

The first scientific images from the Euclid telescope mission revealed more than 1,500 billion “orphan stars” scattered throughout the Perseus galaxy cluster (or the Perseus galaxy cluster).

"Orphan stars" are groups of stars that have been expelled from their galaxy. The discovery, led by astronomers from the University of Nottingham, sheds light on the origins of these celestial wanderers that shine with a ghostly bluish light. 

The Perseus cluster of galaxies is located 240 million light-years from Earth, and is one of the largest structures in the universe, containing thousands of individual galaxies.

Professor Nina Hatch, from the University of Nottingham, who co-led the research, said: “We were surprised by our ability to see so far into the outer regions of the cluster and distinguish the precise colors of this light. This light could help us map dark matter if we understand where the stars inside the cluster come from.” .

The orphan stars are just one of the astonishing discoveries Euclid has made in a set of stunning images it has released.

The new images show two clusters of galaxies known as Abell 2764 and Abell 2390, a group of galaxies called the Sword Cluster, a spiral galaxy called NGC 6744, and a vibrant star nursery known as Messier 78.

Messier 78 is the closest location, only 1,300 light-years away from Earth, while Abell 2390 is the furthest away, 2.7 billion light-years away, in the Persian constellation.

Scientists hope that the data from Euclid will shed light on two of the universe's greatest mysteries: dark energy (which pushes galaxies apart, accelerating the expansion of the universe) and dark matter (which consists of particles that do not absorb, reflect, or emit light. from him).

Caroline Harper, Head of Space Science at the UK Space Agency, said: “A fundamental part of our goal as a space agency is to understand more about the universe, what it is made of and how it works. There is no better example of this than the Euclid mission, as we know that most of the universe is made of matter.” "Invisible darkness is dark energy, but we don't really understand what it is, or how it affects the way the universe evolves."

Astronomers said that the images taken by Euclid are at least four times clearer than those taken using ground telescopes.

It was created by combining data from two instruments: VIS, a visible-light camera, and a near-infrared spectrometer, a photometer (NISP) that captures light from the infrared spectrum.

The new findings, based on just 24 hours of observations, have been published in 10 research papers on the online portal arXiv.

In total, Euclid has so far produced more than 11 million objects in visible light and another 5 million objects in infrared light.

One of the goals of the mission, which was launched in July 2023, is to create a three-dimensional map of the universe by observing two billion galaxies, which will help scientists understand their cosmic history.