One month after the launch of Euclid, the European Space Agency (ESA), in collaboration with the Euclid consortium unveils the first observations captured by the satellite which is completing its in-flight recipe designed to unlock the secrets of dark matter and light. dark energy.
The Euclid mission is mainly dedicated to cosmology, to the study of the history of the expansion and the formation of the great structures of the Universe. It aims to better understand two components of the Universe, dark energy and dark matter. Euclid brings together more than 2,200 people (425 in France) in 250 laboratories (about thirty in France) in 17 countries The main manufacturers involved are Thales Alenia Space & Airbus Defense and Space, respectively in charge of the service module and the load module useful. Many manufacturers have been involved in the design of the instruments.
Developed to explore the evolution of the dark Universe, Euclid will create a 3D map of the Universe, with time as the third dimension, by observing billions of galaxies up to 10 billion light-years away and spread over a third from the sky. Euclid will help to better understand the acceleration of the expansion of the Universe. Astronomers will be able to deduce from this data the properties of gravity and those of dark energy and dark matter, which together contribute 95% of the energy content of the Universe. The first scientific images are thus expected at the end of 2023. The first observations are available on the link
These first images are made possible by the visible imager VIS (VISible instrument) and the infrared spectrometer NISP (Near Infrared Spectro Photometer). The NISPs, a near-infrared spectrophotometer, developed with CNES under the responsibility of the Marseille Astrophysics Laboratory, which supplied the opto-mechanical part. It involves many international partners, including in France the Marseille Particle Physics Center (CNRS/Aix-Marseille University) in charge of the focal plane, theTwo Infinite Institute of Lyon (CNRS/ Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University) and the Subatomic physics and cosmology laboratory (CNRS/Grenoble Alpes University) in charge of the characterization of the detectors, and the CEA which supplied the cryomotors. The NISP makes spectra and images through color filters, which makes it possible to estimate the distances of millions of galaxies by two methods – spectroscopy and photometry.
2023-08-13 15:55:14
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