This image is released as part of the Early Release Observations from ESA’s Euclid space mission. All data from these initial observations are made public on 23 May 2024 – including a handful of unprecedented new views of the nearby Universe, this being one.
This image is a higher resolution close-up cutout from a larger frame featuring the spiral galaxy NGC 6744. This frame shows the galaxy’s bulge and disc in detail. The central bulge is composed mostly of older, lower-mass stars, while the spiral arms host a diversity of stars. Most of NGC 6744’s star formation occurs in these arms, and this is marked by trails of bright, hot, blue-hued stars.
[Image description: The image shows a galaxy with many arms spiralling out from a bright centre. The centre is a bright sphere from which bright beams extend upwards and downwards to the arms. Dark vein-like structures run through-out the different arms. Stars are dotted throughout the image in an evenly distributed way.]