Euclid's view of the Horsehead Nebula
While the Euclid Space Telescope will almost exclusively be focused on the most distant galaxies of the Universe during its 6+ year mission, the Early Release Observations (ERO) which took place during a single day prior to the start of the main science mission, provided us with some spectacular images closer to home. The Horsehead Nebula is a part of the Orion molecular cloud complex and is well known and beloved by backyard amateur astronomers around the world. This image shows not only the sharpness and detail that Euclid can achieve in the gentle gas and dust swirls of this part of our own Galaxy, but also shows many small and distant galaxies in the background. Deep inside the Horsehead Nebula we find the so called “stellar nurseries”, the places where new stars and planets are still being formed in our Galaxy.
Source: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi
Are you interested in this topic?
At the University of Zurich, several researchers are actively involved in ESA's Euclid mission. See howProf. Dr. Joachim Stadel,Prof. Dr. Aurel Schneider, andProf. Dr. Julian Adamek at the Department of Astrophysics are contributing to the Euclid mission.
Are you a student that wants to learn more about this topic? Consider enrolling in these courses:
AST 241: Introduction to Astrophysics (Fall Semesters)
AST 245: Computational Astrophysics (Fall Semesters)
AST 293: Proseminar Cosmology (Fall Semesters)
PHY 473: Introduction to Astroparticle Physics and Cosmology (Fall Semesters)
AST 511: General Relativity (Fall Semesters)
AST 512: Theoretical Astrophysics (Fall Semesters)