Massive cradle of baby stars revealed in new space telescope images

By MARCIA DUNN
AP Aerospace Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A European space telescope is thrilling scientists with its latest peek at stars and galaxies. The European Space Agency released the photos from the Euclid observatory on Thursday. They were taken following the telescope’s Florida launch last year as a warm-up act to its main job currently underway: surveying the so-called dark universe. Euclid will spend the next several years observing billions of galaxies covering more than one-third of the sky. The shape and size of all these galaxies can help scientists understand the mysterious dark energy and dark matter that make up most of the universe.