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Euclid Space Telescope

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The Euclid Space Telescope has recently captured one of the most detailed views of the crowded central region of the Milky Way, revealing more than 60 million stars in a single image. The observation demonstrates Euclid’s ability to survey extremely dense regions of our galaxy while pursuing its broader mission to understand the large-scale structure of the Universe.

About Euclid Space Telescope

Euclid is a 1.2-metre space telescope launched in 2023 by the European Space Agency (ESA). It is specifically designed to study the “dark Universe”, particularly dark matter and dark energy, and to understand how the Universe has evolved over cosmic history.

Objectives

The primary objective of Euclid is to create a large-scale three-dimensional map of the Universe by observing billions of galaxies up to about 10 billion light-years away. This extensive survey will help scientists understand how galaxies and cosmic structures formed and evolved over time.

Euclid also studies how the Universe has expanded throughout cosmic history. By examining the distribution and shapes of galaxies, the mission seeks to improve our understanding of gravity, dark matter, and dark energy, which play major roles in shaping the Universe.

Scientific Payloads

Euclid carries two main scientific instruments, namely the Visible Instrument (VIS) and the Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer (NISP).

Visible Instrument (VIS)

The VIS instrument captures high-resolution images of galaxies in visible wavelengths. It is particularly important for measuring tiny distortions in galaxy shapes caused by gravitational lensing, which allows scientists to study the distribution of dark matter.

Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer (NISP)

The NISP instrument observes galaxies in near-infrared wavelengths and measures their spectroscopic properties and distances. These observations help determine how rapidly galaxies are receding and provide valuable information about the expansion of the Universe and the influence of dark energy.

The NISP instrument also includes contributions from NASA, particularly in the form of detector technology and sensor-chip electronics.

Significance

The Euclid mission is significant because it combines a wide field of view, high-resolution imaging, and infrared spectroscopy to investigate the fundamental structure and evolution of the Universe. Its observations are expected to provide crucial evidence for understanding the nature of dark matter and dark energy and the evolution of cosmic structures.


 

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