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Whooohoooo 🎉

The #ESA #Euclid launch kit is live! Look at the amazing work my graphics colleagues have done - and be excited for the cool science Euclid will make possible very soon.

Find the whole launch kit here:

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Euclid/Euclid_launch_kit

And the extremely cool graphics here:

https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Sets/Euclid_launch_kit_infographics/(result_type)/images

#astrodon #astronomy #cosmology #scicomm
From: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2023/05/Euclid_in_a_nutshell#.ZGOL4ef_teY.link ESA's Euclid mission is designed to explore the composition and evolution of the dark Universe. By accurately mapping the shape, positions and distance of a huge number of galaxies, the space telescope will create a 3D map of the large-scale structure of the Universe across space and time out to 10 billion light-years, and across more than a third of the sky. Euclid will be launched by a Space X Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, USA and travel 1.5 million km from Earth, in the opposite direction to the Sun, to reach its orbit around the Lagrange point L2. The payload module comprises a 1.2 m diameter telescope and two scientific instruments: a visible-wavelength camera (the VISible instrument, VIS) and a near-infrared camera/spectrometer (the Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer, NISP). The Euclid Consortium has delivered the VIS and NISP instruments to ESA. NASA provided the near-infrared detectors of NISP. Euclid will address two core themes of ESA’s Cosmic Vision 2015–2025: What are the fundamental physical laws of the Universe? How did the Universe originate and what is it made of?
From: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2023/05/The_light_and_dark_Universe#.ZGOMO3o7S-o.link ESA’s Euclid mission aims to uncover the mysteries of the ‘dark’ Universe. This ominous-sounding invisible part of the cosmos makes up more than 95% of the mass and energy in our Universe. For centuries, astronomers have aimed to learn more about the luminous sources of the cosmos: planets, stars, galaxies and gas, for example. But these objects make up only a small fraction of what the Universe contains. 95% of the Universe appears to be made up of unknown ‘dark’ matter and energy. Scientists estimate that dark matter makes up about 25% of the Universe and dark energy 70%. Dark matter and energy affect the motion and distribution of visible sources, but do not emit, absorb, or reflect any light, and scientists do not know yet what these entities actually are. Understanding their nature is therefore one of the most compelling challenges of cosmology and fundamental physics today.
From: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2023/05/What_Euclid_will_measure_weak_lensing#.ZGOMbr3fQ8w.link To understand more about the dark Universe, ESA’s Euclid will measure a phenomenon known as ‘weak lensing’, based on the principle of gravitational lensing. A concentration of matter along the line of sight can act like a magnifying glass, bending and distorting light from galaxies and clusters behind it. This effect is called gravitational lensing. Scientists distinguish between strong gravitational lensing, when the distortions are very apparent, like in the case of Einstein rings, arcs and multiple images, and weak gravitational lensing, when the distortions of background sources are much smaller. In this case, distortions (of a few percent) can only be detected by analysing large numbers of sources in a statistical way. ESA’s Euclid will measure the distorted shapes of billions of galaxies over 10 billion years of cosmic history, thus providing a 3D view of the dark matter distribution in our Universe. The map of the distribution of galaxies over cosmic time will also teach us about dark energy, which affects the spatial evolution of the large-scale structure.
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2023/05/Euclid_an_ESA-led_global_collaboration#.ZGOMk1T_MvU.link Euclid is a fully European-designed mission, built and operated by ESA. Through developing and implementing the Euclid mission, ESA has been leading a global collaboration that is bringing socio-economic benefits to Europe and the rest of the world. These benefits are set to continue once the mission has launched. Within this global collaboration, the Euclid Consortium is responsible for providing the scientific instruments and scientific data analysis. ESA also contributed to the instruments, e.g. overall development coordination, the development of the near-infrared detector for the Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer (NISP) and the flight detectors for the Visual Instrument (VIS). NASA provided the flight near-infrared detectors of NISP. The Euclid project involved the collaboration of more than 300 institutions and 80 companies from 21 countries, and it has been made possible by the work and dedication of more than 3500 people: scientists, engineers, technicians, and administrative staff. To build and operate Euclid, 140 industrial contracts were signed. The total cost of the mission is approximately 1.4 billion euros, including launch and six years of nominal science operations.

Euclid launch kit

Download this launch kit to learn more about the Euclid mission and its science goals.
www.esa.int
#astronomy #scicomm #esa #Astrodon #euclid #cosmology

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