European Space Agency sets sights on largest 3D map of cosmos
12.11.2026
The European probe Euclid has provided insights into the secrets of the universe with a mass of new observations, the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Thursday.
For the first time, the ESA has published a huge volume of observations from the probe. According to ESA, the data lay the foundation for the largest 3D map of the cosmos created so far.
"These are far more than beautiful pictures," said ESA science director Carole Mundell. "Today marks a scientific milestone in our study of the cosmos."
The data are based on 13 months of operations by the probe. The first data were published last year.
Euclid was launched into space in July 2023. Its centrepiece is a high-resolution telescope equipped with two instruments: a camera for the visible wavelength range (VIS) and a near-infrared instrument that enables both spectroscopic and photometric measurements (NISP).
They are designed to image the shapes of galaxies or help determine how far away galaxies are.
ESA aims to look back into the past of the universe and study its evolution over the past 10 billion years. In total, data on billions of galaxies are to be collected, and a 3D map of space is to emerge, with time as an additional component.
Using information from Euclid, experts hope to draw conclusions about dark matter and dark energy, which together make up an extremely large share of the universe. All other known components, such as galaxies, make up only about 5%.
Euclid imaged more than 1 billion celestial objects in the observations now published, yet the area mapped corresponds to only 14% of what Euclid is to observe during its entire mission. The data contain more than 900 million galaxies and 60 million possible active galactic nuclei.
Because Euclid is in space, there are no atmospheric disturbances, unlike with telescopes on Earth. Rare and distant objects such as galaxy clusters and gravitational lenses are also detected.
The probe delivered the largest catalogue of possible "strong gravitational lenses," according to ESA. The gravitational lensing effect means that the mass of a cluster causes the light from galaxies lying behind it, as seen from Earth, to be distorted. Strong gravitational lenses could in theory reveal how fast the universe is expanding.
"Strong lensing provides unique insight into the dark universe, allowing us to 'weigh' individual galaxies, including their invisible dark matter, and explore how the Universe is expanding," said Natalie Lines of the University of Portsmouth.
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