SpaceX launched Euclid, the observatory that will explore dark matter

SpaceX successfully launched the European space observatory Euclid using a Falcon 9 launch vehicle.

The device will study distant galaxies, dark matter and the rate of expansion of the universe.

Euclid was created by the European Space Agency (ESA) with the participation of NASA for more than 10 years.

The payload of the observatory consists of:

• a 1.2-meter Korsch telescope
• a VIS (VISible imager) camera
• a spectrometer and a NISP (Near Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer) observing in the optical and near infrared ranges.

The observatory will explore distant galaxies and clusters of galaxies, measuring their distance and determining their parameters.

This will make it possible to build a three-dimensional map of the distribution of galaxies in the Universe up to the redshift z = 2.

This will help us estimate the distribution of dark and baryonic matter and the expansion rate of the Universe.

On July 1, 2023, the Falcon 9 launch vehicle with the observatory was launched from the pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida.

After the telescope has deployed all the main elements in space, it will begin a flight to a working orbit around the L2 Lagrange point in the Sun-Earth system.

This journey will take four weeks.

Only three months after the launch, Euclid will begin its scientific program and work for six years, scanning a third of the celestial sphere during this time.

Sources:

• ESA: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Euclid/ESA_s_Euclid_lifts_off_on_quest_to_unravel_the_cosmic_mystery_of_dark_matter_and_dark_energy
• BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-66066710

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