First light from the Euclid telescope

[Filip Larsen]

https://www.esa.int/Science_Explora..._s_first_images_the_dazzling_edge_of_darkness

 

[berkeman]

Kind of a boring image. Can you say what is different about this telescope?

 

[Ibix]

It's actually for studying galaxy shape and redshift, but I guess nebulae are just pretty.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euclid_(spacecraft)

 

[Filip Larsen]

Kind of a boring image.

Well, the post was to tell about first light and less about showing a pretty picture, although I admit I probably did pick the Horsehead Nebula because it is always pretty.

Given Euclids mission I guess it would have been more appropriate to show a wide field like this:

This sparkly image shows Euclid’s view on a globular cluster called NGC 6397. This is the second-closest globular cluster to Earth, located about 7800 light-years away. Globular clusters are collections of hundreds of thousands of stars held together by gravity. Currently no other telescope than Euclid can observe an entire globular cluster in one single observation, and at the same time distinguish so many stars in the cluster. These faint stars tell us about the history of the Milky Way and where dark matter is located.

 

[Ken G]

Now that's a pretty picture!