Euclid Space Telescope Launched to Map the Universe

By IndraStra Global News Team

Cover Image Attribute: An artist's impression of Euclid. Source: ESA.

On July 1, 2023, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the European Space Agency's (ESA) Euclid space telescope into orbit. The telescope is designed to study dark matter, dark energy, and the universe's expansion.
The Euclid space telescope, carrying a price tag of €1.4 billion, was anticipated to embark on an approximately month-long journey spanning around 1,500,000 kilometers (932,057 mi). Its destination was Lagrange Point L2, situated between the Earth and the Sun, the same region where the renowned James Webb Space Telescope operates. Once in position, Euclid would observe approximately one-third of the sky outside the confines of our Milky Way galaxy, a venture planned to last for an impressive six years.
The Instruments

The VISible instrument (VIS) is specifically designed to capture highly detailed images of galaxies across a significantly larger portion of the sky than what can be achieved from ground-based observations. These images serve a crucial purpose in measuring the shapes of an astonishing number of galaxies, reaching over a billion in total. True to its name, the VIS instrument operates by capturing visible light. It exhibits sensitivity to wavelengths spanning from green (550 nanometres) up to the near-infrared range (900 nm). To accomplish this, the instrument utilizes a mosaic configuration comprising 36 CCDs (Charge Coupled Devices), which are a type of camera sensor. Each CCD module boasts an impressive resolution of more than 4000 pixels by 4000 pixels. Consequently, the combined detector effectively creates a total image resolution of approximately 600 megapixels, equivalent to nearly seventy 4K resolution screens. This high-resolution capability enables the VIS instrument to provide intricate and comprehensive observations of the galaxies it captures, offering invaluable data for scientific analysis and study.

NASA designed and built Euclid's Near Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer (NISP), which will measure the distribution of dark matter and energy in the universe by determining the amount of light emitted by galaxies at different wavelengths. It operates by capturing near-infrared light in the range of 900 to 2000 nm. NISP is equipped with a grid consisting of 16 detectors, each containing more than 2000 by 2000 pixels, facilitating precise and detailed measurements of the targeted galaxies.

In the near future, NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, tentatively scheduled for launch in May 2027, was intended to provide additional refined data that scientists could utilize to enhance the accuracy of Euclid's observations. Yun Wang, a senior research scientist at IPAC, expressed that Euclid and the Roman Space Telescope would collectively provide a comprehensive understanding of the universe, surpassing the insights they could offer individually. The combined efforts of these telescopes would enable astronomers to gain a more profound understanding of the complex workings of our vast universe.
It is important to remember that Euclid was originally going to launch from French Guiana in March 2023 on a Russian Soyuz rocket before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, the conflict prompted a change in plans, leading to the relocation of the launch site to Cape Canaveral, Florida. Nonetheless, despite the challenges and adjustments, the successful launch of the Euclid space telescope marks a significant milestone.     

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