Europe’s space telescope to target universe’s dark mysteries

Europe’s Euclid space telescope is scheduled to blast off Saturday on the first-ever mission aiming to make clear two of the universe’s best mysteries: darkish power and dark matter.

The launch is deliberate from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 11:12 am native time (1512 GMT) on a Falcon 9 rocket of the US firm SpaceX.

The European Area Company was compelled to show to billionaire Elon Musk’s agency to launch the mission after Russia pulled its Soyuz rockets in response to sanctions over the warfare in Ukraine.

After a month-long journey by way of space, Euclid will be part of its fellow space telescope James Webb at a secure hovering spot round 1.5 million kilometers (greater than 930,000 miles) from Earth known as the second Lagrange Level.

From there, Euclid will chart the largest-ever map of the universe, encompassing as much as two billion galaxies throughout greater than a 3rd of the sky.

By capturing mild that has taken 10 billion years to achieve Earth’s neighborhood, the map may even provide a brand new view of the 13.8-billion-year-old universe’s historical past.

Scientists hope to make use of this info to deal with what the Euclid mission supervisor Giuseppe Racca calls a “cosmic embarrassment”: that 95 % of the universe stays unknown to humanity.

Round 70 % is considered darkish power, the identify given to the unknown power that’s inflicting the universe to broaden at an accelerated fee.

And 25 % is dark matter, thought to bind the universe collectively and make up round 80 % of its mass.

“Ever since we may see stars we have puzzled, is the universe infinite? What’s it made out of? How does it work?” NASA Euclid mission scientist Michael Seiffert advised AFP.

“It is simply completely superb that we will take knowledge and truly begin to make even somewhat little bit of progress on a few of these questions.”

‘Darkish detective’

Euclid consortium member Guadalupe Canas advised a press convention that the two-tonne space telescope was a “darkish detective” which might reveal extra about each parts.

Euclid, which is 4.7 meters (15 toes) tall and three.5 meters broad, will use two scientific instruments to map the sky.

Its seen mild digital camera will let it measure the form of galaxies, whereas its close to infrared spectrometer and photometer will permit it to measure how distant they’re.

So how will Euclid attempt to spot issues that can not be seen? By looking for their absence.

The light coming from billions of light years away is barely distorted by the mass of seen and dark matter alongside the best way, a phenomenon often called weak gravitational lensing.

“By subtracting the seen matter, we will calculate the presence of the dark matter which is in between,” Racca advised AFP.

Whereas this may occasionally not reveal the true nature of dark matter, scientists hope it’ll throw up new clues that can assist monitor it down sooner or later.

For darkish power, French astrophysicist David Elbaz in contrast the growth of the universe to blowing up a balloon with traces drawn on it.

By “seeing how briskly it inflates,” scientists hope to measure the breath—or darkish power—making it broaden.

‘Goldmine’

A significant distinction between Euclid and different space telescopes is its broad subject of view, which takes in an space equal to 2 full moons.

Undertaking scientist Rene Laureijs stated that this wider view means Euclid will have the ability to “surf the sky and discover unique objects” like black holes that the Webb telescope can then examine in larger element.

Past dark energy and matter, Euclid’s map of the universe is predicted to be a “goldmine for the entire subject of astronomy,” stated Yannick Mellier, head of the Euclid consortium.

Scientists hope Euclid’s knowledge will assist them study extra in regards to the evolution of galaxies, black holes and extra.

The primary photographs are anticipated as soon as scientific operations begin in October, with main knowledge releases deliberate for 2025, 2027 and 2030.

The 1.4 billion euro ($1.5 billion) mission is meant to run till 2029, however may final somewhat longer if all goes properly.

© 2023 AFP