Exciting news from the European Space Agency’s Euclid telescope! On July 31, it beamed back its first stunning images to Earth, confirming that its instruments are working perfectly. Euclid’s mission is to map the dark side of the universe by studying billions of galaxies up to 10 billion light-years away. What makes it even more fascinating is that this ambitious map will be in “3D,” incorporating the element of time to reveal the evolution of these realms alongside the cosmos.
The initial images have already impressed astronomers, and they see this as the beginning of a quest to understand the very nature of dark energy. Launched on July 1 from Cape Canaveral, Euclid now floats a million miles away from Earth, alongside the James Webb Space Telescope, at the second Lagrange point. Over the next few months, scientists will continue testing the telescope before it embarks on its epic cosmic survey.
