Euclid Mission

Latest Context

• Recently, The Euclid space telescope has beamed back its first images in a mission that promises to lift a veil on the “dark universe”.

• It has shared its initial five science images which include pictures of expansive galaxy clusters, detailed shots of two nearby galaxies, a nebula, and a gravitationally connected group of stars known as a globular cluster. 

 

Findings by Euclid’s Mission
The Perseus Cluster: A Glimpse into Cosmic Depths	Euclid's lens focused on the Perseus Cluster, capturing 1,000 galaxies and over 100,000 more in the background, some situated 10 billion light-years away.  The mapping of special attributes and characteristics of these galaxies will help unravel the role of dark matter in shaping the universe.
Spiral Galaxy IC 342: Euclid's Infrared Revelation	Euclid's infrared capabilities provided valuable insights into the stars of IC 342; a spiral galaxy akin to the Milky Way useful for understanding galaxies with structures similar to our own.
Irregular Dwarf Galaxy NGC 6822: Galactic Building Blocks	Irregularly-shaped and small galaxies like NGC 6822 play a crucial role as the building blocks for larger galaxies.  Studying them sheds light on the formation of galactic structures.
Globular Cluster NGC 6397 and the Horsehead Nebula	NGC 6397 is a nearly globe-shaped globular cluster about 7,800 LYs away. The mission showcased the Horsehead Nebula, aiming to uncover unseen Jupiter-mass planets in their early stages of development.

 

Dark Matter

1. About

• Dark matter, though never detected, is believed to be present in the entire universe, its existence presumed because a number of observable celestial phenomena could not be possible if the universe did not have much more matter in it than is seen.

• It is believed to make up more than 95% of all the universe.

2. Characteristics

• The material is considered to be a ‘matter’ since it has gravitational attraction and it is ‘dark’ because it does not seem to interact with light (or any part of the electromagnetic spectrum).

• Its gravitational force prevents stars in our Milky Way from flying apart.

• However, attempts to detect such dark matter particles using underground experiments, or accelerator experiments including the world's largest accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), have failed so far.

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