The dazzling sight of more than 60m stars at the heart of Earth\u2019s galaxy has been captured by a space telescope designed to reveal the mysterious dark forces that shape the universe.<\/p>\n
Astronomers used the European Space Agency\u2019s Euclid telescope<\/a> to capture the largest, most detailed image ever taken of the visible light pouring from the centre of the Milky Way. The telescope\u2019s camera is rare in being sensitive enough to separate individual stars in the crowded region known as the galactic bulge.<\/p>\n The enormous image marked the start of a new age of discovery of planets outside Earth\u2019s solar system, researchers said. The number of known worlds is expected to rocket beyond the thousands already spotted around faraway stars.<\/p>\n Dr Eamonn Kerins, an astrophysicist at the University of Manchester\u2019s Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, said of the Euclid telescope: \u201cIt was never built with this science in mind, but it has proved to be a superb facility for the work.<\/p>\n \u201cThis data fires the starting pistol in a new age of exoplanet discovery, where we go from knowing about 6,000 exoplanets to finding more than 100,000 across the galaxy.\u201d<\/p>\n The images were taken after astronomers pointed the Euclid telescope at the centre of the Milky Way for 26 hours. Photograph: ESA\/Euclid\/Euclid Consortium\/NASA, CFHT. Image processing by J-C Cuillandre and E Bertin (CEA Paris-Saclay)<\/p>\n The \u20ac1bn (\u00a3862m) telescope launched in 2023 to construct the most accurate 3D map of the cosmos and shed fresh light on the mysterious dark forces<\/a> that shape it.<\/p>\n According to the most popular model of the universe, only 5% is made from ordinary matter. About 70% is said to be dark energy, the force that accelerates the expansion of the universe. A further 25% is called dark matter, an invisible substance that appears to clump around galaxies.<\/p>\n Astronomers took the snapshot of the stars in March last year after pointing Euclid at the centre of the Milky Way for 26 hours of observations. The image is a mosaic of nine \u201cpointings\u201d taken with the probe\u2019s visible light camera. Each pointing covers an area of the sky larger than the full moon.<\/p>\n Beyond its visual appeal, the image will boost the hunt for exoplanets, or worlds that form outside the solar system.<\/p>\n The galactic bulge, the central area of the Milky Way, is a vast, tightly packed structure filled mainly with old, cooler stars. Photograph: ESA\/Euclid\/Euclid Consortium\/NASA, CFHT. Image processing by J-C Cuillandre and E Bertin (CEA Paris-Saclay)<\/p>\n