Euclid Mission Launched
The European Space Agency’s Euclid mission has launched into space. Its main goal is to investigate the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy in the universe. Euclid will create a detailed map of the universe by observing billions of galaxies.
In the current model of the universe, about 68% is believed to be made up of dark energy, around 27% is dark matter, and only about 5% is normal matter, the stuff we’re familiar with on Earth, like planets and stars.
Dark energy, for instance, was discovered 25 years ago when scientists observed that instead of slowing down due to the gravitational pull of matter, the universe continues to expand at an increasing rate. This led them to believe that there must be an invisible form of energy propelling this expansion—hence the name “dark energy.”
Euclid’s mission is one of the first of its kind, focused on solving these cosmic puzzles. The mission aims to answer fundamental questions: What is the nature of dark matter? How has the Universe evolved over time? Is our understanding of gravity complete?
Euclid will travel to a point in space called Sun-Earth Lagrange point 2. This is a location where the gravitational forces of the Sun and Earth balance out, allowing the spacecraft to stay in a stable position.
The spacecraft itself is about 1.2 meters wide and carries the telescope and instruments. The visible-wavelength camera will study the shapes of distant galaxies over time to understand the effects of gravity and dark energy. The near-infrared camera/spectrometer will observe how galaxies move away from each other, providing insights into dark energy and gravity. The telescope can look back approximately 10 billion years into the past, slightly less than the James Webb Space Telescope’s impressive 13 billion-year view.
The Euclid mission is part of the European Space Agency’s Cosmic Vision program. The near-infrared detectors for the instruments were supplied by NASA, making the American agency an important part of the Euclid Consortium, which oversees the mission.
Euclid will orbit about 1.5 million kilometers above the Earth, far away from its surface. This will allow the telescope to capture images that are at least four times clearer than those taken from the ground.
The Euclid mission, named after the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid, aims to shed light on the nature of dark energy and determine if our understanding of gravity needs revision. In other words, scientists hope to gain a better understanding of the universe’s structure and history. Euclid is expected to function for a minimum of six years, conducting its important scientific mission.
Dark energy and dark matter are two mysterious concepts in astrophysics that scientists use to explain certain observations in the universe.
Dark matter refers to an invisible substance that makes up a significant portion of the total mass in the universe. It does not interact with light or other forms of electromagnetic radiation, which is why it’s called “dark.” Despite being invisible, scientists infer its existence from its gravitational effects on visible matter and the structure of the universe. Dark matter plays a crucial role in holding galaxies together and helping them form, as its gravitational pull keeps stars and gas from drifting apart. Think of it like an invisible glue that holds the cosmic structures together.
On the other hand, dark energy is quite different from dark matter. It is a mysterious form of energy that fills all of space and causes the expansion of the universe to accelerate. Unlike dark matter, which pulls things together, dark energy acts as a sort of anti-gravitational force, pushing everything apart. It’s called “dark energy” because it’s still poorly understood, and scientists are not entirely sure about its nature. The presence of dark energy was discovered by observing how distant galaxies move away from us faster over time.
To summarize, dark matter is an invisible substance that helps hold galaxies together through its gravitational pull, while dark energy is a mysterious energy that causes the universe’s expansion to accelerate. Both dark matter and dark energy play significant roles in shaping the large-scale structure of the universe, even though we can’t directly see or understand them fully yet.