New European space telescope launched to search for dark matter

On 1 July, Euclid, sent up by the European Space Agency to explore the evolution of the dark universe, was launched from Florida.

The European Space Agency (ESA) launched the new space telescope Euclid on 1 July on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The project, which is planned to last nearly six years, aims to give scientists a better understanding of dark energy and dark matter, which is estimated to make up up to 95% of the universe. This could even lead to a better understanding of how gravity works, and the images it captures will be used to create the most detailed 3D map of the universe to date.

The telescope, named after Euclid, the ancient Greek mathematician and “father” of geometry, was soon to be released from the Falcon rocket, as planned, to begin its month-long journey to Lagrange point two, where it will be placed in a stable gravitational position—about 1.6 million kilometers from Earth. There it will begin its observing mission, using its wide-angle lens to see galaxies up to ten billion light-years away from Earth, well beyond the Milky Way. Euclid will calculate the exact distance to these distant galaxies by analyzing the infrared radiation they emit. The project involves the work of more than two thousand scientists. The team includes citizens from thirteen European countries, as well as Americans, Canadians, and Japanese.

More information and updates on Euclid’s journey are available on ESA’s website, including a video explaining what to expect from the mission:

Source: The Guardian
Cover Photo: SpaceX

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