Strong gravitational lenses captured by Euclid

Ensci_euclid20250319b_1024

ensci_euclid20250319b March 19th, 2025

Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA

This image shows examples of gravitational lenses that Euclid captured in its first observations of the Deep Field areas.

Using an initial sweep by artificial intelligence models, followed by citizen science inspection, expert vetting and modelling, a first catalogue of 500 galaxy-galaxy strong lens candidates was created, almost all of which 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 some 7000 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 processing by M. Walmsley, M. Huertas-Company, J.-C. Cuillandre

Provider: Euclid

Image Source: https://euclid.caltech.edu/image/euclid20250319b-strong-gravitational-lenses-captured-by-euclid

Curator: ESA/Euclid

Image Use Policy: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

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Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Observation

Color Mapping Details Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue Euclid (Vis) Optical 700.0 nm
Green Euclid (NISP) Infrared 1.1 µm
Red Euclid (NISP) Infrared 1.7 µm
Spectrum_base
Blue
Green
Red
Ensci_euclid20250319b_1280
×
ID
euclid20250319b
Subject Category
Subject Name
Credits
ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA
Release Date
2025-03-19
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://euclid.caltech.edu/image/euclid20250319b-strong-gravitational-lenses-captured-by-euclid
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Euclid, Euclid, Euclid
Instrument
Vis, NISP, NISP
Color Assignment
Blue, Green, Red
Band
Optical, Infrared, Infrared
Bandpass
Central Wavelength
700, 1100, 1700
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
Equinox
Reference Value
Reference Dimension
Reference Pixel
Scale
Rotation
Coordinate System Projection:
Quality
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Euclid
URL
/image/ensci/euclid20250319b
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
City
State/Province
Postal Code
Country
Rights
CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Publisher
Euclid NASA Science Center at IPAC (ENSCI)
Publisher ID
ensci
Resource ID
Resource URL
http://www.euclid.caltech.edu/rails/active_storage/blobs/redirect/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaHBBbm9HIiwiZXhwIjpudWxsLCJwdXIiOiJibG9iX2lkIn19--aad6f73ff59c4be3d9e7c8a45739bdf30ab609c3/EWS-Q1-EuclidStrongLenses.4K.C.tif
Related Resources
Metadata Date
2025-03-19T16:09:02Z
Metadata Version
1.2
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