Quiz of the week: how many galaxies have been revealed so far from ESA’s Euclid mission?

The European Space Agency (ESA) has released its first major data set from the Euclid space telescope, which is tasked with creating the largest 3D map of the universe. The data, captured over 13 months, includes observations of more than 900 million galaxies and 60 million black-hole-powered light sources from the early universe. This release covers a slice of sky approximately 9,500 times larger than the full moon, representing about 14% of the total area Euclid is scheduled to survey during its six-year mission.

ESA's director of science, Carole Mundell, stated that the release is a scientific milestone in the study of the cosmos. Scientists intend to use the 1.7 million gigabytes of data to develop a 3D model of the universe and map the cosmic web underlying all galaxies. According to ESA, each object in the survey provides a specific light signature or spectrum that offers information regarding its distance from Earth and its composition.

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