Euclid mission one step closer as camera nears completion

Key components for a massive optical digital camera onboard the European Space Agency's Euclid space telescope have been delivered by astronomers and engineers from the UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory. Once Euclid is launched from French Guiana in 2022, it will be one of the largest such cameras put into space and will capture light from distant galaxies, providing a more detailed look at the visible universe over a larger part of the sky, than ever before. Euclid will survey the shapes of galaxies and map the geometry of the Universe with the aim of making accurate measurements of mysterious Dark Matter and Dark Energy, which make up most of the cosmos. To map the Dark Matter that is believed to make up 27% of our Universe, Euclid will measure fractional distortions that it imprints on the shapes of galaxies. For this, the VISible camera on Euclid will detect billions of galaxies to measure the effect over different parts of the sky to an accuracy of 0. Professor Tom Kitching (UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory), said: "Observations of Dark Matter are wonderful in themselves but even better is that Euclid can also see the effects of Dark Energy, a mysterious ingredient that appears to be driving the accelerated expansion of the Universe." Dark Energy accounts for 68% of the Universe, and its effects can be measured by examining how the Dark Matter map has changed with time by looking at more and more distant galaxies. As Dark Energy drives an accelerated expansion of the universe, it works against gravity, causing Dark Matter to build up in clumps across the map.