Euclid's first quick data release: 26 million galaxies in a week of observing

European Space Agency/Euclid

ESA released Euclid's first batch of survey data, covering three deep fields totalling 63.1 square degrees. In one week of observing Euclid spotted 26 million galaxies, some 10.5 billion light-years away. The release included 500 strong gravitational lens candidates and an AI-made catalogue classifying over 380,000 galaxies, trained with help from nearly 10,000 volunteers.

• By then Euclid had covered about 2,000 sq deg, 14% of its 14,000 sq deg survey.
• It is expected to image more than 1.5 billion galaxies over six years.
• About 100,000 strong lenses are expected by mission end, about 100 times more than known.
• Each deep field will be observed 30 to 52 times.