On July 1, 2023, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched the Euclid space telescope into space. Its mission: to create the largest and most detailed map of the universe ever made.

“Euclid is a wide-field telescope. It sees more than 100 times as much of the sky in one image as the Hubble or James Webb Space Telescope,” explains Leiden astronomer Koen Kuijken. “It produces around 20 new images every day. Over its six-year mission, it will map a third of the entire sky.”