Deep Field Collection of Strong Gravitational Lenses | Euclid Space Telescope | ESA

Deep Field Collection of Strong Gravitational Lenses | Euclid Space Telescope | ESA

This image shows examples of gravitational lenses that the European Space Agency's Euclid space telescope captured in its first observations of its assigned Deep Field areas. Using an initial sweep by artificial intelligence models, followed by citizen science inspection, expert vetting and modeling, a first catalog of 500 galaxy-galaxy strong lens candidates was created, almost all were previously unknown. This type of lensing happens when a foreground galaxy and its halo of dark matter acts as a lens, distorting the image of a background galaxy along the line of sight towards Euclid. 

With the help of these models, Euclid will capture around 7,000 candidates in the major cosmology data release planned for the end of 2026, and in the order of 100,000 galaxy-galaxy strong lenses by the end of the mission, around 100 times more than currently known.

Image Description: A collage of fourteen by eight squares containing examples of gravitational lenses. Each example typically comprises a bright center with smears of stars in an arc or multiple arcs around it as a result of light travelling towards Euclid from distant galaxies being bent and distorted by normal and dark matter in the foreground. In rare cases, the smearing is in a complete ring, creating a so-called Einstein Ring.

Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA Image Processing: M. Walmsley, M. Huertas-Company, J.-C. Cuillandre
Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard Licence
Release Date: March 19, 2025

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