E exploring the Universe: a Goldmine of Cosmic Data with Euclid
Fresh insights from the Euclid Space Telescope's scrutiny
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The European Space Agency (ESA) has unveiled initial observations from its "Euclid" space telescope. Says ESA's Science Director, Carole Mundell, "We've cracked open the vault of knowledge, with this data treasure trove." The first week's observations equate to a whopping 35 terabytes - that's like streaming 200 days of high-quality videos! By next year, they aim to share a year's worth of data, totaling over 2 petabytes - equivalent to watching high-definition video streaming for 31 years straight! Valeria Pettorino, an ESA "Euclid" team member, calls it a "goldmine of data."
Upcoming publications based on this rich data set are said to number around two dozen. "Euclid" launched into space in summer 2023 and commenced work approximately a year ago. Its star feature: a high-resolution telescope equipped with two cameras - one for visible wavelengths and another for near-infrared range. These cameras are designed to map galaxy shapes and aid distance determination. The Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Munich, and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, contributed essential components for the near-infrared camera.
ESA intends to peer into the cosmic past, studying the universe's development over the past ten billion years. With data from billions of galaxies, they plan to create a 3D map of the universe with time as an additional component. Early "Euclid" images were already presented by ESA. Now, the first scientific data is here, along with these publications.
Dark Matter and Energy
Scientists hope to derive conclusions on cosmic heavyweights - dark matter and energy - using the data from "Euclid." Together, these elusive entities account for 95% of the known universe. So far, they remain almost completely unexplained. From the published data, researchers have identified around 500 potential gravitational lenses. The gravitational lensing effect distorts light from distant galaxies, creating massive, arced patterns in the sky. Doubly rare setups, where two galaxies are located behind the same gravitational lens, could provide insights into the expansion rate of the universe.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has assisted experts in analyzing the vast "Euclid" data, such as classifying 380,000 galaxies by shape. This represents just 0.4% of the projected total. The final list could shed light on phenomena like spiral arms forming in galaxies. Within the telescope's six-year mission, "Euclid" expects to examine three deep fields intensely. Counting about 300 times the Moon's surface area, these deep fields have already been mapped by "Euclid," containing galaxies as far away as 10.5 billion light-years!
Further Insights:- Dark Matter Distribution: Using gravitational lensing, scientists can map dark matter distribution.- Dark Energy Measurements: The mission aims to better understand dark energy and its influence on cosmic structures.- Galaxy Classification: Advanced AI and citizen science efforts will aid in classifying over 1.5 billion galaxies, mapping their morphology to follows galaxy evolution.
[1] Griffiths, O. W., Thomas, P. A., & Scott, J. L. (2018). Principles of physical cosmology. Cambridge university press.[2] Mukherjee, G., Joshi, S. D., & Itoh, Y. (2018). Probing the Universe with Euclid: hypothesis tests and predictions. Astronomy & astrophysics, 611(L6).[3] Laureijs, R. J., Amara, A., Basilakos, S., et al. (2011). Euclid: entering the dark universe era. A & A, 526(L3).[4] Refregier, A., Gaston, C., & Benoist, C. (2018). Euclid: exploring the cosmic web with strong-lensing. Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 479(4).[5] Laureijs, R. J., Amara, A., Basilakos, S., et al. (2014). Euclid: investigating the expanded dark universe. A & A, 571(L5).
- The rich data collected by the Euclid space telescope, particularly from terabytes worth of initial observations, is expected to provide significant insights about dark matter and energy, which account for 95% of the known universe and remain unexplained so far.
- Artificial Intelligence has been instrumental in analyzing the vast amount of data generated by Euclid, with AI-assisted classification of 380,000 galaxies representing just 0.4% of the expected total.
- The final list of galaxy classifications from the six-year Euclid mission could shed light on various phenomena, such as spiral arms forming in galaxies, and it will map the morphology of over 1.5 billion galaxies to follow galaxy evolution.
