Euclid Captures 60 Million Stars in the Milky Way’s Crowded Heart
ESA’s Euclid telescope released the most detailed visible-light image of the Milky Way’s galactic center — over 60 million stars in a 324-megapixel mosaic.
TL;DR — ESA’s Euclid telescope released the most detailed visible-light image ever of the Milky Way’s crowded galactic center — over 60 million stars across a 324-megapixel mosaic shot in about 26 hours — a reference frame for decades of exoplanet hunting.
Europe’s Euclid telescope just took an extraordinary portrait of our own galaxy. On June 24, 2026, ESA released the sharpest visible-light view yet of the Milky Way’s center.
The image
ESA’s Euclid telescope released the most detailed visible-light image ever made of the Milky Way’s crowded galactic center, containing more than 60 million stars and 51 known planetary systems. The mosaic — 18,000 × 18,000 pixels (~324 megapixels) — was captured in about 26 hours across nine "pointings," each covering a patch of sky larger than the full Moon.
| Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| Stars captured | 60M+ |
| Known planetary systems | 51 |
| Resolution | ~324 MP (18,000²) |
| Observing time | ~26 hours |
What they said
"In 24 hours, Euclid has already captured the stars involved in all the future microlensing events that the Roman space telescope will detect." — Natalia Rektsini, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris
Why it matters
- A reference frame for exoplanets. The data underpins future microlensing searches, including NASA’s Roman telescope.
- Space beats the ground. Wide-field optical resolution from orbit captures crowded star fields the ground can’t.
- A taste of Euclid’s power. The bulge survey previews the mission’s vast cosmology dataset.
FAQ
What did Euclid photograph?
The most detailed visible-light image ever made of the Milky Way’s crowded galactic center — more than 60 million stars and 51 known planetary systems — in a ~324-megapixel mosaic captured over about 26 hours.
Why does the image matter for finding planets?
It establishes a precise reference frame for "microlensing" — a technique that detects planets by how their gravity bends starlight. The data will support future searches, including NASA’s upcoming Roman Space Telescope survey.
Sources
Image: “Euclid’s galactic bulge survey” by European Space Agency, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO, via Wikimedia Commons.
← Back to all posts