The new picture, which was released today (March 28), combines infrared images of the Milky Way taken during sky surveys by two different instruments, the UK Infrared Telescope in Hawaii and the VISTA telescope in Chile.

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In the past, Esa has offered Nasa a 20% partnership in the telescope, and one of the simplest ways it could contribute is by providing the infrared detectors needed by Euclid's instruments.

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However, such instruments are blinded by the intense infrared radiation emitted by flames, which overwhelm the sensitive detectors and limit their use in the field.

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It was equipped with a 3.5m mirror - the largest monolithic mirror ever flown - and three state-of-the-art instruments sensitive to long wavelengths of light, in the far-infrared and sub-millimetre range (55 to 672 microns).

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Follow-up observations are also being planned using other ground-based instruments, as well as several space observatories, including the Hubble Space Telescope and the infrared Spitzer Space Telescope.

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