This Is the Most Detailed Image Yet of the Milky Way's Center
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Euclid space telescope has captured the largest and most detailed visible-light image ever obtained of the Milky Way's galactic bulge, the central region of our galaxy.
The image is a mosaic containing more than 60 million stars, as well as nebulae and star clusters. It will allow scientists to confirm the possible presence of exoplanets using a microlensing technique and measure their masses with greater precision.
The Power of Euclid
Although Euclid was designed to observe billions of distant galaxies, its visible-light camera is sensitive enough to resolve individual stars at the center of the Milky Way—a region that is both extremely bright and densely populated—without being overwhelmed by the intense light.
On March 23, 2025, Euclid turned its gaze toward the galactic bulge, capturing this enormous image in just 26 hours of observations. The result was remarkable: a mosaic composed of nine separate “pointings”...
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