Scientists pick their favorite Euclid 'dark universe' telescope images: 'The best is still to come'

Six Euclid images are shown. The first two are starry and galactic-spotted sections of space. The third is a gassy nebula that exhibits a small hook-shaped feature toward the top left. The fourth is a patchy, pink and orange section of space, the fifth is a blobby and hazy area against the backdrop of space and the final one is an individual spiral galaxy.

On Thursday (May 23) the European Space Agency (ESA) and its collaborators released a set of five images constructed by its revolutionary space telescope Euclid. The Euclid consortium had previously released five images from the space telescope on November 7, 2023.

Euclid has been labeled Europe's "dark universe detective" because its wide field of view allows it to track billions of galaxies across 10 billion years of cosmic history, enabling astronomers with tools that can reveal more about two mysterious elements of our cosmos: dark energy and dark matter.