The European Space Agencys Euclid telescope has just magnified our view of the universe with the release of its first wave of survey data, capturing hundreds of thousands of galaxies in remarkable detail. The latest update shares a preview of three deep fields, areas chock-full of galaxies that Euclid will inspect as part of its mission to map one-third of the entire sky.With one scan of each deep field, Euclid has been able to spot 26 million galaxies, the farthest of which lie 10.5 billion light-years away. To classify this deluge of cosmic data, the ESA has called upon citizen scientists to help classify the galaxies with some assistance from AI algorithms. More than 380,000 galaxies have been classified so far, but this amount is just one drop of a colossal data pool that will bring images of 1.5 billion galaxies to light over the next few years.Euclid Telescope Explores Deep FieldsThe Euclid telescope, launched in 2023, is equipped to create the largest 3D map of the universe to date by observing optical and near-infrared light. Over the course of its six-year mission, it will explore the sky in two ways: a wide survey, which will span 14,000 square degrees of the sky, and a deep survey, which will take a closer look at three smaller patches that altogether make up 63 square degrees of the sky.These deep fields that Euclid will concentrate on called Deep Field South, Deep Field Fornax, and Deep Field North could help scientists unravel mysteries of the universe hidden in the complex organization of galaxies. The images are expected to deliver new perspectives on dark matter and dark energy, concepts that are thought to facilitate the evolution of galaxies and account for 95 percent of the universe.A Team EffortThe sheer amount of data collected by Euclid including the 380,000 classified galaxies required input from volunteers through the Galaxy Zoo program. This endeavor encouraged the public to participate by determining the shape of the galaxies observed by Euclid, distinguished by telltale features like spiral arms and tidal tails.The recently released catalog, however, only represents a mere 0.4 percent of the total number of galaxies that Euclid will observe during its mission. And the stream of data continues to flow without slowing down, with 100 GB of data from Euclid being sent back to Earth every day.The Invisible Impact of Dark MatterIn addition to spotting galaxies, Euclid will be able to perceive how dark matter interacts with them. The telescope can measure an effect called gravitational lensing, which occurs when both normal matter and dark matter warp the space around galaxies and cause light to bend as it travels. By measuring this effect, scientists can begin to infer how invisible dark matter is affecting galaxies through its gravitational influence.With the latest survey data, Euclid has provided 500 gravitational lens candidates, depicted as distortions of light that take on varying shapes. By the end of the mission, it will have identified 100,000 instances of this effect.In February 2025, Euclid came across an Einstein Ring, a rare phenomenon caused by gravitational lensing. In a surprise siting around 590 million light-years from Earth, light from a background galaxy curved around a foreground galaxy (NGC 6505) and created a brilliant ring. Euclid's mission will carry on until 2030, but it has already made significant strides in revealing the scope of the sky. With maps of the three deep fields starting to expand, answers to dark matter and dark energy may soon be in reach. Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:Jack Knudson is an assistant editor at Discover with a strong interest in environmental science and history. Before joining Discover in 2023, he studied journalism at the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University and previously interned at Recycling Today magazine.