8/18/2023 0 Comments Sky and telescope reviews![]() ![]() Besides pulling back the curtain on the nature of these unknown aspects of the universe, Euclid’s data will help scientists understand the cosmic web, or the superscale structure of our universe, from the shape and spatial orientation of galaxies to the distribution of mass across the cosmos. The ultimate objective of Euclid’s observations is to take data on distant cosmic sources that help explain the properties of dark matter and dark energy. Studying how these bubbles emanated outwards will clarify the rate of the universe’s expansion over its near-14-billion-year existence. For example, dark matter bends light around it, allowing scientists to see it in the gravitational lensing of distant light sources.Įuclid will also look at baryonic acoustic oscillations of the universe, or bubbles of dense particles that rippled outwards in the first 300,000 years following the Big Bang (that sounds like a long time, but it was the infancy of our universe). ![]() While dark matter is invisible to us - no instruments have ever directly detected it - we know it exists due to its gravitational effects. The driver of this expansion is uncertain, and so the catch-all term “dark energy” is used to describe whatever might be responsible.Īstronomers hope that Euclid will begin to explain dark energy, but also dark matter, the catch-all term for unaccounted mass in the universe. In the last several billion years, the universe has been expanding at an accelerating rate. The universe has existed for nearly 14 billion years it’s been roiled with heat and light at some times, but has also undergone murky eras shrouded in gas. The Euclid mission has an expected lifetime of six years, though it could well be extended depending on the amount of fuel the telescope has at the end of that timeline. In orbit, the spacecraft’s mass will be 2.2 tons. The telescope is nearly 4 feet in diameter and the spacecraft is about 15.4 feet tall. Its image quality will be at least four times sharper than ground-based surveys of the sky, according to a European Space Agency release. The spacecraft has two scientific instruments: a visible light camera (or VIS) and its near-infrared camera and spectrometer (NISP). As a relevant aside, the Webb Space telescope also images at near-infrared wavelengths, but is looking for very different things. Its primary goal is to map the geometry of the dark universe - hence its name, for the Greek astronomer who dreamt up the foundations of modern geometry in the 3rd century BCE.Įuclid’s wavelength range is 1.1 to 2 microns, firmly in the near-infrared realm. Here’s what you need to know about the world’s newest space telescope.Įuclid is a space telescope that will observe the universe at infrared wavelengths. The Euclid telescope, set to launch to space from Florida on Saturday, may help decipher them. Together, dark matter and dark energy comprise 95% of the known universe, yet scientists don’t know what they are. ![]()
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