Context:
European astronomers released the first images from the newly launched Euclid space telescope
About Euclid Space Mission
- Space agency – European Space Agency (ESA)
- Partner agency – NASA
- Designed to unlock the secrets of dark matter and dark energy – hidden forces thought to make up 95% of the universe.
- Designed to last 6 years
- Designated location in space: Sun-Earth Lagrange point 2, 1.5 million km from Earth
- Aims
- To study the composition and evolution of the dark Universe.
- The space telescope will generate a comprehensive map of the large-scale structure of the Universe, observing billions of galaxies up to 10 billion light-years away.
- Euclid covers over a third of the sky, exploring the expansion of the Universe and the formation of its structure throughout cosmic history.
- The mission provides insights into the roles of gravity, dark energy, and dark matter in shaping the Universe.
- The spacecraft has a 1.2 metre-wide telescope and 2 instruments — a visible-wavelength camera (the VISible instrument) and a near-infrared camera/spectrometer (the Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer).
Must read – Lagrange points
Euclid is named after the Greek mathematician Euclid of Alexandria, who lived around 300 BC and founded the subject of geometry. As the density of matter and energy is linked to the geometry of the universe, the mission was named in his honour.
About Dark energy
- Its hypothetical existence was established only in the 1990s by studying exploding stars called supernovas.
- We know how much dark energy there is because we know how it affects the universe’s expansion. Besides, it is a complete mystery.
- Roughly 68% of the universe is dark energy
Must Read – Antimatter | Estimated matter-energy content of the Universe
Previous Year question
Recently, Scientists observed the merger of giant blackholes’ billions of light-years away from the Earth. What is the significance of this observation? [UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2019 Prelims]
(a) ‘Higgs boson particles’ were detected.
(b) ‘Gravitational waves’ were detected.
(c) Possibility of inter-galactic space travel through ‘wormhole’ was confirmed.
(d) It enabled the scientists to understand ‘singularity’.
Answer: (b)
Explanation:
Gravitational waves are ‘ripples’ in space-time caused by some of the most violent and energetic processes in the Universe.
Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves in 1916 in his general theory of relativity.
Billions of light-years away from the earth, two black holes have collided to create a larger one.
Gravitational waves are created when two black holes orbit each other and merge.
It has a mass more than 80 times that of the Sun.
The resulting energy released in the form gravitational waves as the two holes spiralled in towards each other.
