Euclid telescope captures 60 million‑star mosaic of the Milky Way center

scienceJun 24, 2026361,386

ESA's Euclid space telescope released a visible-light mosaic of the Milky Way's crowded center that shows about 60 million stars. Euclid assembled the image from 26 hours of deep-space observations, producing the largest, most detailed close-up yet of the Galactic bulge. The mosaic resolves dense star clusters, nebulosity, and hundreds of thousands of precise stellar positions usable for photometry and astrometry. Those measurements will help find and confirm exoplanets, map the Galaxy's structure, and provide a high-resolution dataset that astronomers can use for decades.

ESA Space Science

@science.esa.int

No less than 60 million stars in one image. It's possible thanks to ESA's Euclid mission. For just one day, Euclid turned its gaze to the crowded heart of the Milky Way and captured the largest, most detailed photo ever taken of our galaxy's centre in visible light. Let's dive deeper 👇 🔭 🧪 ☄️ 1/8

A dense field of tiny stars fills this square image taken by the European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope. The lower and central areas are dominated by bright yellow and gold colours, forming a textured background similar to fine glitter or sand. Dark brown and black patches cut irregularly through the yellow regions, like ink stains or clouds of smoke. Toward the upper left, the colours shift to purple and reddish tones, blending gently into the surrounding star field. Small blue points of light are scattered across the image.

53245d ago

ESA Space Science71

First things first, where did Euclid look more precisely? 🧐 In the upper part of this graphic, you can see the best maps of the Milky Way we have, thanks to ESA's Gaia mission. The central part of our galaxy, called the galactic bulge, is clearly visible in the side-on view. 🔭 🧪 2/8

Verain6

My God, It's Full of Stars! I had to. I'm sure you guys understand. :)

dylismith.bsky.social5

You deal with numbers and sizes and volumes that this old retired engineer can’t possibly get his mind around. Thank you for doing the hard work.

The Bishop

@ceas10.bsky.social

Getting There Not the sexiest phase of the Moon but here we are Heavy water vapor this evening #Nature 🔭 #Photography #Science #NightSky #Photo #Space #Universe #Astronomy #Cosmos #Night #Moon #WitchSky

Moon 71.1% Waxing Gibbous

Taken 06/23/2026 - Dwarf 3

18345d ago

Jasmine 🌌🔭

@astrojaz.bsky.social

60 MILLION stars in one image. this is a new image of the heart of our galaxy, the milky way, captured by the euclid telescope

11144d ago

NASA | ESA Space Updates

@nasaupdates.bsky.social

🌌 ESA’s Euclid has captured the largest, most detailed photo ever made of our Milky Way's center in visible light! Taken in just 26 hours, this stunning mosaic reveals a crowded galactic heart packed with over 60 million stars, nebulas, and star clusters. ✨ #Space #Euclid 1/4

A dense field of tiny, closely packed points of light fills the image. Most of the background is bright yellow and gold. A broad, irregular dark band runs diagonally across the centre, forming connected black and dark-brown patches. Brighter clusters of pale yellow and white points appear above and below this dark band, with a few slightly bluish points scattered throughout.

Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, CFHT, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre and E. Bertin (CEA Paris-Saclay)

11944d ago

Paul Byrne

@theplanetaryguy.com

This is the most detailed view of the centre of the Milky Way ever acquired—taken by ESA's Euclid space telescope on 23 March 2025. There's about 60 million stars in this view. On *average*, there's about one exoplanet per star. So there's about 60 million planets in this view.

A remarkably dense starfield with deep purple colours at upper left that grade towards more yellowish colours at lower right. There are some dark, irregular spots especially in the lower half of the image.

10044d ago

Paul Byrne12

Read more about how, and why, this image was acquired: www.esa.int/Science_Expl... Image credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA/CFHT/J.-C. Cuillandre/E. Bertin

jlfire4

Hopefully at least one of them has more intelligent life than Earth does. 🤞

Euclid UK2

You can really get lost in it, it’s absolutely stunning! 🤩 eucliduk.net/q2release.html

pulsarcube.bsky.social2

Hm. I imagine interstellar communication would be a lot more likely to happen in this region of the galaxy.

Crisp

@crisp91.bsky.social

The Euclid telescope has captured the largest and most detailed visible-light image of the Milky Way’s center ever made. The 324-megapixel mosaic reveals over 60 million stars and 50 known exoplanet systems, helping astronomers find and confirm many more worlds beyond our solar system.

6544d ago

Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans

@astroroyalscot.bsky.social

Erm... I might have just got a little bit too carried away on the BBC World Service, waxing lyrical about the gorgeousness of the @ec-euclid.bsky.social image of the heart of the Milky Way: "swirling golden cloudy fuzziness" "the cosmos scattered with glitter" 😂 ☺️🔭 📷: www.esa.int/Science_Expl...

From ESA: A dense field of tiny stars fills this square image taken by the European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope. The lower and central areas are dominated by bright yellow and gold colours, forming a textured background similar to fine glitter or sand. Dark brown and black patches cut irregularly through the yellow regions, like ink stains or clouds of smoke. Toward the upper left, the colours shift to purple and reddish tones, blending gently into the surrounding star field. Small blue points of light are scattered across the image.

6944d ago

T.K. Arispe3

I don't think you could possibly overstate the beauty of this image. It's the sort of thing one could get lost in!

Euclid Consortium3

We would like to second that description! 🤩

AFP News Agency

@en.afp.com

🌌 The Euclid space telescope has captured the largest and most detailed photo ever taken of our galaxy's crowded heart, a dazzling image packed with 60 million stars, the European Space Agency said Wednesday. ➡️ u.afp.com/Szz6

2645d ago

POMARANC

@pomaranc.bsky.social

Andromeda Galaxie M31. 30sec. 281 photos. Lightroom finish. 📸 Andreas Jeger #space

3845d ago

Riding With Robots

@ridingrobots.bsky.social

Here's the center of the Milky Way as my camera saw it in March 2025 with no magnification. Thread below👇 is what the Euclid telescope saw in one tiny section of the galaxy's core that same month. Dave Bowman was right.

The colorful clouds of stars and dust of the Milky Way's core rise above the horizon on a snowy hillside before dawn. Photo: Bill Dunford

2644d ago

StarCatcher 🇨🇦

@starcatcherjohn.bsky.social

(1/2)The Veil Nebula, a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus. A supernova remnant, many parts of which have acquired their own names. Shot from my backyard 26-06-23 🔭 WOptics Pleiades 111 📷 ASI2600 MC Exposure: 25 mins #Astrophotography #Space #DeepSpace #Astronomy

The Veil Nebula is a massive, expanding cloud of ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus. Located about 2,100 light-years away, it is the remnant of a star roughly 20 times more massive than our Sun that exploded as a supernova 8,000 to 10,000 years ago.The entire complex—also known as the Cygnus Loop—spans about 110 light-years across (roughly 3 degrees of the sky). Because of its vast size, observers and astrophotographers typically target specific, intricately woven sections of the nebula.

2344d ago

bluevoter24.bsky.social

@bluevoter24.bsky.social

Io is a piece of work! #space #photography

1345d ago

Paula

@totallypaula.bsky.social

Capturing 1 of the coldest worlds ever photographed, has been difficult. Astronomers could see the faint pink dot GJ 504 b(nicknamed the Pink Planet) but could not read its light. The JWS telescope captured it's spectrum & the atmosphere is described as light veiled in clouds made of salt. #Space

Artist's concept of GJ 504 b, the "Pink Planet." Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/S. Wiessinger. Public domain.

1044d ago

Celestia

@celestiaproject.bsky.social

Now that sRGB rendering has been added, we can revert the Earth's atmosphere parameters back to the ones used before 1.7.0, making it more accurate to true colour photos of Earth. Views from the surface also look better. #space #computergraphics #rendering #OpenGL #opensource #CelestiaProject

Earth in Celestia with 1.7.0 atmosphere parameters. This atmosphere code was implemented long before sRGB rendering, and wasn't designed to work with it, thus it looks unrealistic.

1045d ago

Starship Celtica☀️

@starshipceltica.bsky.social

ESA’s Euclid captures the Milky Way’s crowded heart www.esa.int/Science_Expl... The extremely bright inner region of our Milky Way galaxy, known as the galactic bulge. This special request came from astronomers who were after what Euclid does best: capturing huge areas of the sky in crisp detail.

844d ago

3 sources

livescience.comNew Euclid space telescope image of 60 million Milky Way stars could keep astronomers busy for decades esa.intESA’s Euclid captures the Milky Way’s crowded heart space.comHubble Space Telescope images galaxy scientists thought was impossible to find

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Euclid telescope captures 60 million‑star mosaic of the Milky Way center

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