New Images from Euclid Telescope Offer Powerful Complement to Hubble, JWST

Five new images from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Euclid space telescope mission continue to further our exploration of the “Dark Universe,” according to Florida Tech observational astrophysicist Eric Perlman.

With help from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Euclid’s mission is to grow our understanding of “dark matter” so scientists can precisely chart its presence in the universe.

Photo Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA

Euclid returned its first five images in November 2023 after launching from Cape Canaveral, Florida – just minutes from the Florida Tech campus – that summer. Now astronomers and scientists are examining a new batch released in late May. The five new images feature a star-forming region in the Milky Way galaxy, clusters of hundreds of galaxies and more stunning sights.

“These are magnificent images which showcase the power of the Euclid telescope,” said Perlman, who is a professor at Florida Tech’s Department of Aerospace, Physics and Space Sciences. “The view they show of these objects is strikingly different from what other observatories, in particular Hubble and JWST, show.”

NASA predicts that by 2030, Euclid will create a cosmic map that covers almost a third of the sky, thanks to the field of view that is wider than both the Hubble Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

Photo Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA

Dr. Perlman is available to discuss the new images, how and why they differ from previous images, and what this means for our understanding of dark matter.