First Section of Euclid Space Telescope's Map of the Universe Revealed (theguardian.com) 13
The Euclid mission has revealed the first part of a 3D map of the universe, showcasing 14 million galaxies and tens of millions of stars with unprecedented detail. "The Euclid mission, launched in 2023 and run by the European Space Agency (Esa) with contributions from Nasa, sent its first snapshots in November of that year and in May 2024," reports The Guardian. "The goal of Euclid is to enable the creation of a 3D map in time and space of the universe, in an attempt to elucidate its evolution and, as a result, shed light on the mysterious phenomena of dark energy and dark matter that together make up 95% of the universe." From the report: The newly released data is a mosaic of 208 gigapixels and covers 1% of what will be the final map. The completed map is expected to involve six years of observations and will take in a third of the sky, with observations expected to capture billions of galaxies out to 10 billion light years. [...] Images released by Esa highlight the area of the sky covered by the new mosaic, together with the mosaic itself and zoomed-in views within it.
Esa said regions of light blue that can be seen in the mosaic were galactic cirrus clouds that sit between stars in the Milky Way. These wispy clouds, composed of gas and dust, reflect optical light, allowing them to be captured by the mission's super-sensitive visible light camera. Zoom in on the mosaic further and other features can be seen, including the spiral galaxy NGC 2188 and the galaxy cluster Abell 3381. In a view zoomed in 600 times relative to the original mosaic, a distant swirling galaxy is visible in incredible detail.
Esa said regions of light blue that can be seen in the mosaic were galactic cirrus clouds that sit between stars in the Milky Way. These wispy clouds, composed of gas and dust, reflect optical light, allowing them to be captured by the mission's super-sensitive visible light camera. Zoom in on the mosaic further and other features can be seen, including the spiral galaxy NGC 2188 and the galaxy cluster Abell 3381. In a view zoomed in 600 times relative to the original mosaic, a distant swirling galaxy is visible in incredible detail.
I've never paid for a postulate in my life! (Score:3)
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Re:I've never paid for a postulate in my life! (Score:5, Informative)
Euclid did write on 3 dimensional geometry. It's just not in the elementary courses people typically get. (These days 3-d geometry is typically done in a coordinate space, possibly Cartesian, possibly radial. And Euclid didn't cover that.)
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Euclidean space can be multi-dimensional (>=2 dimensions). One of the properties is that parallel line never cross, which is fine in such 3-d space.
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Maybe they mean it ironically? I hear all the cool kids have been doing that for years now.
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Why on God's green, flat Earth would you name a THREE-dimensional map "Euclid", you insensitive clods?
Because they studied past high-school geometry? From Euclidean geometry [wikipedia.org] (and other sources):
The Elements begins with plane geometry, still taught in secondary school (high school) as the first axiomatic system and the first examples of mathematical proofs. It goes on to the solid geometry of three dimensions. ...
Re: I've never paid for a postulate in my life! (Score:3)
Ever since General Relativity, we know space isn't flat: we see Einstein rings, bent background galaxies (see the Coma Cluster) and multiple images of the same objects. That is all caused by the fact that gravity is a fictitious force and actually a curvature of spacetime.
But CMB data tells us that, overall, space is flat: corners of giant triangles add up to 180 degrees and parallel lines remain parallel, for example. Such Euclidian geometry works just as fine in higher dimensions, not just 2D. But you kne
Counting Stars (Score:2)
However you look at this, it's pretty damn cool. To have a 3D map of the other galaxies and stars we can see around us is pretty awesome. I look forward to being able to zoom in and out of such things on a 'google earth' type site in the future.
Bagsy we call one of the ones in the bottom left "Diso" ;-)
Finally! We will not be lost. (Score:3)
This is way cool. Just can't wait for Google Map to be updated with new tab along 'drive', 'public transportation', 'walk'... and 'space-travel' ?
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This is way cool. Just can't wait for Google Map to be updated with new tab along 'drive', 'public transportation', 'walk'... and 'space-travel' ?
I can see it now, "Siri, I said take me to the *closest* star, not Alpha Centauri!"
Upside down skull (Score:2)
The top most "object" in that image in the article looks like an upside down skull, surrounded by a halo of some kind.
On a somewhat more serious note: This really is fascinating stuff. Anytime we get a better look at what's out there, I'm drawn to it. It just amazes me that all this exists, and we exist to ask the questions, "How? Why? For how long? ANYBODY OUT THERE?"
Distances, though (Score:2)