![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2700.jpg\")
The center of the Milky Way, known as the \u2018Galactic Bulge\u2019 \u2013 credit, ESA\/Euclid\/Euclid Consortium\/NASA, CFHT. Image processing by J-C Cuillandre and E Bertin (CEA Paris-Saclay)<\/p>\n The center of the Milky Way, known as the \u2018Galactic Bulge\u2019 \u2013 credit, ESA\/Euclid\/Euclid Consortium\/NASA, CFHT. Image processing by J-C Cuillandre and E Bertin (CEA Paris-Saclay)<\/p>\n
It took a new and special space telescope to parse out each one of these individual stars gleaming in a dizzying mass at the center of our own dear Milky Way galaxy.<\/p>\n
The European Space Agency\u2019s Euclid Telescope, orbiting 1 million miles from Earth at the 2nd Lagrange Point\u2014an orbit it shares with NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope\u2014the probe took 9 of these photographs in visible light while pointed at the galactic center for 26 hours straight.<\/p>\n
It shows the incredible density of stars located at the center\u201460 million in just a snapshot of the sky the size of your average full moon, but it wasn\u2019t aiming for the stars per se, rather the planets almost certainly to be orbiting them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was never built with this science in mind,\u201d Dr. Eamonn Kerins, an astrophysicist at the University of Manchester, reminded the Guardian<\/a>, \u201cbut it has proved to be a superb facility for the work.\u201d<\/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 Put aside any notions you have about humans finding a new place to live or looking for aliens and exoplanet astronomy is still the most exciting aspect of the field for the average person.<\/p>\n GNN\u2019s reports on exoplanet study include such worlds as one almost as big<\/a>\u00a0as its star, another\u00a0that orbits two stars<\/a>\u00a0like Tatooine from\u00a0Star Wars,\u00a0some\u00a0which don\u2019t rotate<\/a>\u00a0and have permanent dark and daytime sides, one with\u00a0the density of a marshmallow<\/a>, a gaseous giant with clouds that turn to stone<\/a>, and one that\u2019s shaped like a lemon where it rains diamonds.<\/a><\/p>\n Even still, as Dr. Kerins said, the Euclid telescope was built to study dark matter and dark energy.<\/p>\n The universe is believed to be made up of 5% regular matter, 25% dark matter, which tends to clump around galaxies and may even be responsible for coalescing them, and 70% dark energy which is believed to be fueling the expansion of the universe.<\/p>\n SPACE TELESCOPES: Citizen Scientist Spots Earth-like Planet: Now Astrophysicists Will Focus Most Powerful Telescopes on it<\/a><\/p>\n Though infrared light is more appropriate for studying these invisible forces spread across so many cosmic acres, Euclid\u2019s visible light camera is designed to image large chunks of the night sky over many hours to track star movements. This will give information on the forces moving them\u2014even the ones that can\u2019t be seen.<\/p>\n However, it also provides an exceptional method of seeking out exoplanets: using the microlensing method of detection.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2700-1.jpg\")
\u2013 credit ESA\/Euclid\/Euclid Consortium\/NASA, CFHT. Image processing by J-C Cuillandre and E Bertin (CEA Paris-Saclay)<\/p>\n