The Perseus Cluster, Euclid image

Euclid telescope image of the Perseus Cluster of galaxies, one of the first five images released from Euclid on the 11th of November 2023. This image captures 1,000 galaxies belonging to the Perseus Cluster as well as over 100,000 more distant galaxies in the background. Perseus is one of the largest known structures in the universe and is around 240 million light years away from Earth. Many of the distant galaxies captured in this image have never before been observed. Euclid is able to capture images of this scale at greater speed and with greater clarity than any previous telescope. This quality will allow Euclid to create the largest 3D map of the universe to date as part of its mission to investigate how dark matter and dark energy have shaped the universe. By observing billions of galaxies up to ten billion light years away, Euclid will provide a valuable insight into the way that galaxies expand and move. From this, it will be possible for the properties of dark matter and dark energy to be inferred. This image was obtained by combining data from Euclid's visible instrument (VIS) and near-infrared spectrometer and photometer (NISP)., by EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY