First Images From Euclid Space Telescope Released

Facts

• The European Space Agency on Tuesday revealed the first images captured by Euclid. The new space telescope is on a mission to study the 'dark universe' — a name given to dark matter and dark energy.¹
• Euclid was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on July 1, and is expected to investigate the composition and evolution of the invisible and mysterious elements of the universe.²
• Even though dark matter and dark energy make up nearly 95% of the observable universe, cosmologists still know very little about their composition or what role they play in the universe.²
• The images released by the ESA show the second-closest globular cluster to Earth, along with 1K galaxies belonging to the Perseus galaxy cluster, and the Horsehead nebula, in remarkable detail.³
• Under current plans, Euclid will investigate the dark universe over the next six years, exploring billions of galaxies and creating a 3D map of nearly one-third of the sky.⁴

Sources: ¹Huffington Post, ²Livescience.com, ³Esa and ⁴BBC News.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Guardian. Cosmologists currently only understand about 5% of the universe; Euclid will make the other 95% accessible. This will push the boundaries of scientific knowledge, address the most pressing issues in modern cosmology, and enable a leap in our understanding of the cosmos as a whole.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by The appalachian. Space exploration is a waste of resources. European countries can solve plenty of problems that have a much more significant impact on the average person than the exploration of outer space, such as homelessness, food insecurity, and climate change, with the vast amounts of money spent on space exploration.

Predictions