In an unprecedented effort, the European Space Agency plans to survey billions of galaxies using the Euclid Space Telescope which launched on July 1 at 11:12 am ET from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
The Euclid mission hopes to understand the evolution of the Universe by looking at the light emitted from galaxies 10 billion years ago. Not only this, the telescope will also focus on gleaning more information on dark energy and dark matter — areas in astrophysics that is still shrouded in near-complete mystery.
Astronomers know precious little about both dark matter and dark energy. Scientists theorised the existence of dark energy 25 years ago when a team of researchers found that instead of slowing down due to gravity, a force that pulls matter inwards, the expansion of the Universe was speeding up.
This led scientists to consider that there may be an undetectable form of energy that is causing the expansion of space. They called this dark energy.
In fact, according to calculations about 68% of the universe is made of dark energy while dark matter makes up 27%. Only 5% of the Universe is made of “normal matter”, i.e. things on Earth, planets, stars and other stellar bodies.
The Euclid mission is one of the first concerted efforts that is looking to find the missing pieces of the puzzle.
Once the telescope is operational, it will scan more than one-third of the sky. At its core, the mission’s goal is to answer the following questions:
- What is the nature of dark matter?
- What is the structure and history of the cosmic web (interconnected filaments of clustered galaxies and gases, separated by giant voids)?
- How has the expansion of the Universe changed over time?
- What is the nature of dark energy?
- Is our understanding of gravity complete?
An unexpected answer to any one of these questions has the potential to alter all we know about the universe.
Named after Greek mathematician, Euclid of Alexandria, the Euclid mission is part of ESA’s Cosmic Vision programme which plans to explore the origin and components of the Universe and the fundamental laws that govern it.
In 2007, the ESA received proposals for two missions that wanted to expand the understanding of dark energy and dark matter using different methods. The agency decided to combine the two missions. In 2011, the Euclid mission was approved.
In 2012 the Euclid Consortium was formed which brought together researchers in theoretical physics, particle physics, astrophysics, and space astronomy, as well as engineers, technicians, and management and administrative staff to work for the Euclid mission,
To accommodate the objectives of both missions, the spacecraft will have a 1.2 metre-wide telescope and two instruments — a visible-wavelength camera (the VISible instrument) and a near-infrared camera/spectrometer (the Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer).
The infrared camera will look at how quickly the galaxies are moving away from each other which will offer scientists insight into both dark energy and the working of gravity. The VISible instrument, on the other hand, will look for tiny distortions in the shapes of distant galaxies from different points in time to highlight the tussle between the pull of gravity and the push of dark energy.
The detectors of the near-infrared instruments have been supplied by NASA making the American agency an important part of the Euclid Consortium.
Floating 1.5 million kilometres above the Earth, the telescope hopes to deliver images that are at least four times sharper than ground-based ones.
The spacecraft measuring approximately 4.7 metres tall and 3.7 metres in diameter will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and will remain operational for a minimum of six years.
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