Euclid telescope snaps best photo yet of Milky Way's heart

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Paris: The European Space Agency (ESA) has released the largest and most detailed photograph ever taken of the Milky Way’s center. Captured by the Euclid space telescope, this dazzling mosaic contains 60 million stars and provides scientists with a powerful new tool for space exploration.

Positioned 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, Euclid utilized its visible light camera for over 26 hours in March 2025 to capture the image.

The final mosaic comprises nine distinct photographs, with color observations added from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope to enhance the visual clarity of the galaxy's ‘bulge,’  a massive bubble containing billions of stars.

Beyond its visual impact, the image serves a critical scientific function in the hunt for exoplanets. Astronomers will use a process called ’microlensing,’ where a star crosses in front of another, acting as a ‘cosmic magnifying glass’ to bend and brighten light. This technique allows scientists to detect the gravity of orbiting planets that might otherwise remain hidden.

This achievement is a major milestone for the Euclid mission, which launched in 2023 with the ambitious goal of charting one-third of the sky.

By observing such bright regions of space, the mission hopes to shed light on long-standing cosmic mysteries, including the nature of dark matter and dark energy.