Euclid's view of the Horsehead Nebula

Source: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi

While the Euclid Space Telescope will almost exclusively be focused on the most distant galaxies of the Universe during its 6+ year mission, the Early Release Observations (ERO) which took place during a single day prior to the start of the main science mission, provided us with some spectacular images closer to home. The Horsehead Nebula is a part of the Orion molecular cloud complex and is well known and beloved by backyard amateur astronomers around the world. This image shows not only the sharpness and detail that Euclid can achieve in the gentle gas and dust swirls of this part of our own Galaxy, but also shows many small and distant galaxies in the background. Deep inside the Horsehead Nebula we find the so called “stellar nurseries”, the places where new stars and planets are still being formed in our Galaxy.