New telescope searching for unseen matter in our universe reveals stunning new images
CBC
Dark matter and dark energy make up roughly 95 per cent of our universe but can't be seen. In order to reveal their influence, over its six-year mission, the Euclid space telescope will observe the shapes, distances and motions of billions of galaxies out to 10 billion light-years and create the largest cosmic 3D map ever made. Below are five of the first images from Euclid released by the European Space Agency.
Euclid shows us a spectacularly panoramic and detailed view of the Horsehead Nebula, also known as Barnard 33, which can be found in the constellation Orion. In Euclid's new observation of this stellar nursery, scientists hope to find many dim and previously unseen Jupiter-mass planets in their celestial infancy, as well as young brown dwarfs and baby stars.
(ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA; Image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre [CEA Paris-Saclay], G. Anselmi)
This incredible snapshot from Euclid is a revolution for astronomy. The image shows 1,000 galaxies belonging to the Perseus Cluster, and more than 100,000 additional galaxies farther away in the background. Many of these faint galaxies were previously unseen. Some of them are so distant that their light has taken 10 billion years to reach us. By mapping the distribution and shapes of these galaxies, cosmologists will be able to find out more about how dark matter — invisible mass exerting a huge gravitational pull on a galactic scale — shaped the universe that we see today.
(ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA; Image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre [CEA Paris-Saclay], G. Anselmi)
Over its lifetime, Euclid, what the European Space Agency has dubbed a 'dark universe detective,' will image billions of galaxies, revealing the unseen influence that dark matter and dark energy have on them. That's why it's fitting that one of the first galaxies that Euclid observed is nicknamed the 'Hidden Galaxy,' also known as IC 342 or Caldwell 5. Thanks to its infrared view, Euclid has already uncovered crucial information about the stars in this galaxy, which is a look-alike of our Milky Way.
(ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA; Image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre [CEA Paris-Saclay], G. Anselmi)
This sparkly image shows Euclid's view of a globular cluster called NGC 6397. This is the second-closest globular cluster to Earth, located about 7,800 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.
(ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA; Image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre [CEA Paris-Saclay], G. Anselmi)
The Canadian government has lost in court — again — to a First Nations grandmother fighting to fix extensive mould at her home on Oneida Nation of the Thames, near London, Ont.
Indigenous community members in British Columbia say they are celebrating after OneBC said it had removed MLA Dallas Brodie as its party leader.
Before NASA astronaut Sally Ride’s historic launch aboard the space shuttle in 1983 as the first American woman in space, she was asked a question: Would 100 tampons be the right number for her week-long mission?
Ashley Stevens has scars inside and out from her time in an Ontario jail.
Winnipeg resident John Ruhland first began taking medication for his depression in 2000 when a period of enormous stress — both at work and in his personal life — landed him in the hospital.
A group of young adults from Cumberland House Cree Nation travelled to British Columbia in November to take part in a program designed help them develop the skills needed to succeed should they decide to move away from their home northeast of Saskatoon.
In just a few short months, Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen will make history.
Chiefs from Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta are calling for a pause on the pipeline memorandum of understanding until they are consulted and sign off on the potential project. And they're threatening legal action if that doesn't happen.
When dolphins swam onto the scene during a study on northern resident orcas off the coast of B.C., at least one researcher admitted to being a little annoyed.
Researchers say there's been a dramatic rise in the number of people going on medications to treat attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder in Ontario, suggesting factors such as more time spent online and the rise of private assessments for the mental condition could be behind the increase.
Baby, it’s cold outside — but it’s worth putting on that heavy winter coat, scarf and boots and heading out for one of the best meteor showers of the year: the Geminids.
Health officials are reminding Canadians to maintain healthy habits during the holiday season, as influenza leads to more school absences and hospitalizations.
For 40 years, staff at Nova Scotia's Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens thought their ginkgo tree was male.