Latest news with #CaroleMundell
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
See how to look back on 10 billion years of cosmic history
PARIS - The European Space Agency has unveiled the first batch of data from its groundbreaking Euclid mission, offering a first look at vast, distant galaxies scattered across the cosmos. Every day, the satellite sends back around 100 GB of data on features such as galaxy clusters, black holes and explosions of dying stars in an effort to answer the burning question: Why is our universe expanding at an accelerating rate? According to ESA, the imagery released so far contains approximately 26 million galaxies, with the most distant being over 10.5 billion light-years away from Earth. "With the release of the first data from Euclid's survey, we are unlocking a treasure trove of information for scientists to dive into and tackle some of the most intriguing questions in modern science. With this, ESA is delivering on its commitment to enable scientific progress for generations to come," said Carole Mundell, ESA's Director of Science, in a statement. By the end of its six-year primary mission, Euclid will have surveyed one-third of the sky in high resolution, allowing scientists to build 3D renderings of the cosmos and gain deeper insight into the universe's expansion. See The Objects Humans Left Behind On The Moon "The full potential of Euclid to learn more about dark matter and dark energy from the large-scale structure of the cosmic web will be reached only when it has completed its entire survey. Yet, the volume of this first data release already offers us a unique first glance at the large-scale organization of galaxies, which we can use to learn more about galaxy formation over time," stated Clotilde Laigle, a Euclid mission scientist and data processing expert. A critical aspect of the mission is the observation of what is known as dark matter - invisible material that neither absorbs nor emits light. Space scientists say they can only measure it through what is known as gravitational lensing, which is the tendency of an object in space to bend light around it. For instance, light emitted by the Sun warps around Earth to a certain degree, causing the light to appear distorted when observed from the receiving end. According to government estimates, dark matter makes up about 85% of the universe, yet very little is known about it. "We're looking at galaxies from inside to out, from how their internal structures govern their evolution to how the external environment shapes their transformation over time," Laigle added. "Euclid is a goldmine of data, and its impact will be far-reaching, from galaxy evolution to the bigger-picture cosmology goals of the mission." Did The National Weather Service Capture A Photo Of Bigfoot During A Pennsylvania Storm Survey? Nasa says its Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which is expected to have a total lifespan cost of more than $4 billion, will join Euclid in providing important observations. As of the latest status update, this high-tech equipment is expected to launch from Florida's Space Coast in mid-2027, with operations beginning later in the article source: See how to look back on 10 billion years of cosmic history
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Into the deep (field) with ESA's Euclid 'dark universe' telescope: Space photo of the day
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The European Space Agency's (ESA) Euclid mission released its first batch of survey data on Wednesday (March 19), including a preview of its deep fields revealing hundreds of thousands of galaxies in different shapes and sizes. This image, which is just one zoomed-in area from three released mosaics, represents a data release from ESA's Euclid spacecraft that includes numerous galaxy clusters, active galactic nuclei and transient phenomena, as well as the first classification survey of more than 380,000 galaxies and 500 gravitational lens candidates compiled using both artificial intelligence and human efforts."With the release of the first data from Euclid's sky survey, we are unlocking a treasure trove of information for scientists to dive into and tackle some of the most intriguing questions in modern science," said Carole Mundell, ESA's Director of Science, in a statement. "With this, ESA is delivering on its commitment to enable scientific progress for generations to come." This is from Euclid's Deep Field South, a first glimpse of 63 square degrees of the sky, the equivalent area of more than 300 times the full moon. By comparison, when complete, Euclid's atlas will cover one-third of the entire sky – 14,000 square degrees – in this high-quality this particular view, galaxies can be identified by their elongated shape or spiral arms. Some are viewed edge-on, while one prominent spiral galaxy at the bottom center is face-on. At the far right, between the middle and top of the image, are galaxies interacting with each clusters are also seen near the bottom center, where features that are smeared into arcs represent gravitational lensing. The Euclid spacecraft has already seen 26 million galaxies with the farthest up to 10.5 billion light-years away. Through its survey, astronomers will learn more about galaxy shapes and star formation, among other subjects of study."We will observe each deep field between 30 and 52 times over Euclid's six year mission, each time improving the resolution of how we see those areas, and the number of objects we manage to observe. Just think of the discoveries that await us," said Valeria Pettorino, ESA's Euclid project scientist. You can read more about Euclid's first data release and learn about how the space telescope sees into the dark universe. You can also read about Euclid's history, beginning with its launch in 2023.
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
First data from Euclid space telescope reveals 26 million galaxies — and another 1.4 billion are on the way
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The European Space Agency (ESA) has just released the first batch of data from the groundbreaking Euclid space telescope, which was built to study the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy throughout the universe. The survey data, released March 19, includes initial scans of three regions that Euclid will observe regularly, as well as detailed classifications of more than 380,000 galaxies — a mere 0.4% of the galaxies scientists expect to catalog over the mission's planned six-year lifespan. "With the release of the first data from Euclid's survey, we are unlocking a treasure trove of information for scientists to dive into and tackle some of the most intriguing questions in modern science," Carole Mundell, ESA's director of science, said in a statement. Euclid, which launched in July 2023 and began collecting data in February 2024, aims to map the large-scale structure of the universe. Understanding this structure through the shapes, sizes and distribution of galaxies could help scientists determine the nature of dark matter and dark energy — two mysterious phenomena that together make up an estimated 95% of the universe but do not interact with light and so cannot be studied directly. "The full potential of Euclid to learn more about dark matter and dark energy from the large-scale structure of the cosmic web will be reached only when it has completed its entire survey," Clotilde Laigle, a Euclid Consortium scientist at Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, said in the statement. "Yet the volume of this first data release already offers us a unique first glance at the large-scale organization of galaxies, which we can use to learn more about galaxy formation over time." Related: 'The universe has thrown us a curveball': Largest-ever map of space reveals we might have gotten dark energy totally wrong The March 19 release includes a single scan of each of the deep-field regions, three areas of the sky that Euclid will revisit multiple times to observe far into the universe. In these initial images, the telescope captured 26 million galaxies, the most distant of which are 10.5 billion light-years away. (A light-year is the distance light can travel in one year — roughly 5.9 trillion miles or 9.5 trillion kilometers.) "We will observe each deep field between 30 and 52 times over Euclid's six year mission, each time improving the resolution of how we see those areas, and the number of objects we manage to observe," Valeria Pettorino, Euclid project scientist at ESA, said in the statement. "Just think of the discoveries that await us." RELATED STORIES —Euclid telescope reveals 1st section of largest-ever 3D map of the universe — and there's still 99% to go —Euclid telescope spots rare 'Einstein ring' hiding near Earth — and an ancient, unnamed galaxy behind it —Euclid space telescope reveals more than 300,000 new objects in 1st 24 hours of observations (photos) Over the course of its planned mission, Euclid will likely capture images of 1.5 billion galaxies, sending about 100 gigabytes of data back to Earth each day. To process this tsunami of information, Euclid scientists are turning to artificial intelligence (AI). Last year, nearly 10,000 volunteers with citizen science project Galaxy Zoo helped train the "ZooBot" AI algorithm to recognize various features of galaxies, such as spiral arms, in early Euclid images. "We're looking at galaxies from inside to out, from how their internal structures govern their evolution to how the external environment shapes their transformation over time," Laigle said in the statement. "Euclid is a goldmine of data and its impact will be far-reaching, from galaxy evolution to the bigger-picture cosmology goals of the mission."
MTV Lebanon
19-03-2025
- Science
- MTV Lebanon
Euclid Mission Data Release Marks Step Toward Grand Cosmic Atlas
The European Space Agency has released its first tranche of data from the Euclid space telescope's mission to map the universe's large-scale structure in order to better understand the mysterious cosmic components dark energy and dark matter. Scientists unveiled on Wednesday Euclid's observations of three patches of the sky populated by a panoply of galaxies. The data covered a survey of the sky equal to more than 300 times the size of the moon as viewed from Earth - a step toward the Euclid mission's goal of fashioning a grand atlas of the cosmos in exquisite detail, spanning more than a third of the sky. Euclid, launched from Florida in 2023 on a planned six-year mission, is an orbiting observatory gathering data on how the universe has expanded and how its structure has formed over time and amassing information about the nature of dark energy and dark matter and the role of gravity on large scales. The survey areas disclosed on Wednesday account for only about half a percent of the mission's eventual goal. The data represents just one week of observations including one scan of each of the three regions, but it covers 26 million galaxies up to 10.5 billion light-years away. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km). The Big Bang event roughly 13.8 billion years ago initiated the universe, which has been expanding ever since. The universe's contents include ordinary matter as well as dark matter and dark energy. Ordinary matter - stars, planets, gas, dust and all the familiar stuff on Earth - represents perhaps 5% of the contents. Dark matter is invisible material that may make up about 27% of the cosmos. Dark energy, an enigmatic component thought to be responsible for the accelerated expansion of the universe, may account for 68%. The newly released Euclid images hint at the large-scale organization of galaxies in what is known as the cosmic web, essentially the backbone of the universe. In this web, there are concentrations of galaxies with voids of space in between, as if the galaxies were sitting on vast empty bubbles. The cosmic web's structure offers clues about dark matter and dark energy, according to the researchers. Astrophysicist Carole Mundell, the European Space Agency's director of science, called Euclid a "dark detective." "We now understand about 5% of the universe," Mundell said. "The other 95% is dark and is unknown." Euclid measures the various shapes and the distribution of galaxies with its high-resolution imaging visible instrument, or VIS, while its near-infrared instrument, or NISP, determines galaxy distances and masses. Euclid eventually is expected to obtain images of more than 1.5 billion galaxies. "It is exploring more distant objects in the universe with a greater amount of sky explored than any survey before for objects so far away," astrophysicist Chris Duffy of Lancaster University in England, one of the scientists involved in the research, said of Euclid. Duffy's part of the Euclid research focuses upon transient objects - ones that appear only briefly - such as stellar explosions called supernovae seen in the observations. A first detailed catalog of more than 380,000 galaxies of various shapes and sizes, classified according to features such as spiral arms and central bars as well as traits that indicate a galactic merger, was released on Wednesday. This represents "the first chunk of what will be the largest-ever catalog of the detailed appearance of galaxies," said University of Toronto astrophysicist Mike Walmsley, one of the Euclid scientists. Light traveling toward Earth from faraway galaxies is bent and distorted by normal matter and dark matter in the foreground in an effect called gravitational lensing. It is one of the tools used by Euclid to study how dark matter is distributed. Researchers have been sifting through the Euclid data to identify strong gravitational lenses, and have identified about 500 such candidates. "The invisible dark matter in massive galaxies warps space, bending light rays like a magnifying glass. This magnifies and distorts the galaxies behind them into arcs and rings, and measuring the distortion lets us measure the invisible dark matter. But the galaxies must be very precisely aligned, so this strong lensing effect is very rare," Walmsley said. "Euclid is the best instrument ever built for finding these, because it can take an exceptionally sharp image of wide patches of sky – while telescopes like Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope are designed to look at much smaller patches," Walmsley added. The next Euclid data release, planned for October 2026, will cover an area 30 times larger than Wednesday's release.
The Independent
19-03-2025
- Science
- The Independent
European Space Agency releases new data that could help us understand the nature of the universe
The European Space Agency has released the first data from its Euclid space telescope, which hopes to understand the mystery of dark energy and dark matter. The first tranche of data shows three patches of the sky, each of which shows an array of galaxies. It shows a part of the sky that is more than 300 times the size of the Moon when it is seen from Earth. Eventually, Euclid hopes to map a full atlas of the universe, scanning more than a third of the sky. Euclid, launched from Florida in 2023 on a planned six-year mission, is an orbiting observatory gathering data on how the universe has expanded and how its structure has formed over time and amassing information about the nature of dark energy and dark matter and the role of gravity on large scales. The survey areas disclosed on Wednesday account for only about half a percent of the mission's eventual goal. The data represents just one week of observations including one scan of each of the three regions, but it covers 26 million galaxies up to 10.5 billion light-years away. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km). The Big Bang event roughly 13.8 billion years ago initiated the universe, which has been expanding ever since. The universe's contents include ordinary matter as well as dark matter and dark energy. Ordinary matter - stars, planets, gas, dust and all the familiar stuff on Earth - represents perhaps 5% of the contents. Dark matter is invisible material that may make up about 27% of the cosmos. Dark energy, an enigmatic component thought to be responsible for the accelerated expansion of the universe, may account for 68%. The newly released Euclid images hint at the large-scale organization of galaxies in what is known as the cosmic web, essentially the backbone of the universe. In this web, there are concentrations of galaxies with voids of space in between, as if the galaxies were sitting on vast empty bubbles. The cosmic web's structure offers clues about dark matter and dark energy, according to the researchers. Astrophysicist Carole Mundell, the European Space Agency's director of science, called Euclid a "dark detective." "We now understand about 5% of the universe," Mundell said. "The other 95% is dark and is unknown." Euclid measures the various shapes and the distribution of galaxies with its high-resolution imaging visible instrument, or VIS, while its near-infrared instrument, or NISP, determines galaxy distances and masses. Euclid eventually is expected to obtain images of more than 1.5 billion galaxies. "It is exploring more distant objects in the universe with a greater amount of sky explored than any survey before for objects so far away," astrophysicist Chris Duffy of Lancaster University in England, one of the scientists involved in the research, said of Euclid. Duffy's part of the Euclid research focuses upon transient objects - ones that appear only briefly - such as stellar explosions called supernovae seen in the observations. A first detailed catalog of more than 380,000 galaxies of various shapes and sizes, classified according to features such as spiral arms and central bars as well as traits that indicate a galactic merger, was released on Wednesday. This represents "the first chunk of what will be the largest-ever catalog of the detailed appearance of galaxies," said University of Toronto astrophysicist Mike Walmsley, one of the Euclid scientists. Light traveling toward Earth from faraway galaxies is bent and distorted by normal matter and dark matter in the foreground in an effect called gravitational lensing. It is one of the tools used by Euclid to study how dark matter is distributed. Researchers have been sifting through the Euclid data to identify strong gravitational lenses, and have identified about 500 such candidates. "The invisible dark matter in massive galaxies warps space, bending light rays like a magnifying glass. This magnifies and distorts the galaxies behind them into arcs and rings, and measuring the distortion lets us measure the invisible dark matter. But the galaxies must be very precisely aligned, so this strong lensing effect is very rare," Walmsley said. "Euclid is the best instrument ever built for finding these, because it can take an exceptionally sharp image of wide patches of sky í¢€' while telescopes like Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope are designed to look at much smaller patches," Walmsley added. The next Euclid data release, planned for October 2026, will cover an area 30 times larger than Wednesday's release.
