Euclid’s view of stellar nursery Messier 78 - Close-up 1

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 smaller, close-up cutout from a larger frame featuring Messier 78 , a vibrant nursery of star formation enveloped in a shroud of interstellar dust. This image shows the densest part of the molecular cloud complex and a region with ongoing star formation.