The European Space Agency released an image mosaic of the Milky Way galaxy's centre captured by the Euclid space telescope in 26 hours, revealing tens of millions of stars three years after the spacecraft launched.
ESA stated that the view offers an unprecedented look at our galaxy, functioning as a comprehensive map of stellar evolution. The mosaic captures cosmic structures ranging from dark clouds where new stars are actively born to ancient stellar populations packed into the galactic bulge.
Gravitational Microlensing
Hidden within this dense field of light are thousands of planets that cannot be observed directly. Astronomers detect these distant worlds through gravitational microlensing, measuring tiny, temporary changes in light as stars pass in front of one another in space.
This light measurement technique reveals unseen planets and allows researchers to calculate their masses through gravity alone. ESA originally built the Euclid telescope to explore dark matter and dark energy across the universe, but the spacecraft is now opening a new window on the Milky Way and its hidden worlds.
Media Format
ESA published the announcement in a video running ten minutes and 45 seconds on July 1, 2026. The agency released the video alongside downloadable file options, including an 89.08-megabyte MP4 file and a 2.28-gigabyte source file.
ESA noted that the video includes third-party content, such as footage, animations, and music, which cannot be modified or used in other productions without explicit authorisation. The agency added that automatically generated closed captions are available through YouTube player controls, while a non-YouTube version is available via direct download.
