The large-scale field observatory, which begins operations in 2022, will be one of the three new generation observatories designed to unveil dark energy, dark matter and other cosmic mysteries.
When the Euclid space probe of the European Space Agency (ESA) is launched inside a rocket from the Gianna Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana province, in September 2022, it will carry many objects on board, which far exceed its diameter telescope. 1.2 meters, and two advanced wide-field imaging devices.
The data that the Euclid probe will collect, along with complementary measurements drawn from two other, new-generation observatories, are the "Vera C." Robin, and the "Nancy Grace Roman" telescope of NASA, will help cosmologists to identify the basic facts of the universe.
The probe aims specifically, during its mission, which will extend to six months, in an orbit around the sun 1.5 million kilometers away from the Earth, to reveal the nature of dark energy, that mysterious force that fuels the acceleration of the expansion of the universe, and also to reveal dark matter, that invisible matter that They act as a pulling glue that holds galaxies and other cosmic structures together. The Euclid probe studies will also pose another critical test of Einstein's theory of general relativity over a wide range, which is the distances between galaxies. And the probe may also be waiting for the discovery of new advanced physics, or even the discovery of the fate of the universe itself.
“The main objectives of the Euclid probe include making measurements of clusters of galaxies, and producing an accurate three-dimensional scan of the evolution of dark matter and dark energy,” says Joseppe Racca, Director of the Space Probe Project at the European Space Agency.
“This would help researchers determine the rate of The expansion of the universe has accelerated, and the discovery of whether or not dark energy has a fixed value".
The Euclid probe, which is now in the final assembly stages at the Airbus plant in Toulouse, France, will measure the shapes of more than two billion galaxies, and the distances between hundreds of millions of other galaxies, with an unprecedented level of accuracy, by monitoring using each of the visible wavelengths And near infrared wavelengths. "The photos will surpass - in terms of quality - any other pictures taken so far," says Raka.
Euclid's apparatus of visible wavelengths will also measure the optical distortion of distant galaxies, which results from a phenomenon known as weak gravitational lensing.
Just as objects may appear enlarged, contracted, or expanded, when we look at them through a cup full of water, our vision of galaxies can be distorted when the light coming from them, on its way to Earth, passes through warp zones in time and space around stars, galaxies, and holes Black matter, and clumps of dark matter. By analyzing this distortion, researchers can calculate the mass of the interfering material, whether visible or dark, that is responsible for the diffraction of light, while also blocking the dark energy effect.
Rachel Mandelbaum, a physicist at Carnegie Mellon University in America, says: “The general theory of relativity says something about the necessity for the universe to be expanding, depending on what is in it, and also indicates how light rays must be bent by the spread of matter, under The effect of gravity, "she adds,
" using measurements taken by Euclid, along with measurements of some other future space missions, we will be able to design tests to judge the compatibility of general relativity with the data obtained from the weak lens-effect observations. "
One of the aims of the Roman Space Telescope is the general relativity test.
The telescope's wide field apparatus, scheduled to be launched in late 2025, will collect light from a billion galaxies, measure distances that separate us from supernovae, in addition to other tasks.
(It is worth noting that the "Roman" telescope will also test new techniques for photographing planets orbiting stars close to it).
His measurements of galaxies and supernovae will allow researchers to make better estimates of the expansion rate of the universe, to clarify the role of dark energy, and to use this same information to conduct further tests on the validity of the theory of general relativity.
As with Euclid, the Roman telescope will also produce a three-dimensional map of the distribution of galaxies.
But it will only work in the infrared. The mirror of the "Roman" telescope, with a diameter of 2.4 meters, which is twice the "Euclid" mirror, allows "Roman" to go deeper into the sky, and then probe the cosmic history, more than its European counterpart.
These shared scientific goals, and the possible time superposition in operating the "Euclid" and "Roman" telescopes, will make the NASA New Generation Telescope a complement to the "Euclid" mission. David Spurgell, co-chair of the Roman telescope scientific team and director of the Center for Computational Astrophysics at the Flatiron Institute, in New York City, says: “If Euclid observes something interesting in a region, the Roman Space Telescope has the flexibility that enables it to Improving and modifying its scientific program, in a way that allows it the maximum sensitivity of this region".
Combining and comparing data from the three telescopes can be very helpful. "The strong mixture of data will be that which includes data for the first year in the" Robin "telescope mission, with the data of the" Euclid "telescope covering the same area of the sky", says Spurgell, "and adds:" Likewise, what will happen in ten years, from the merger. Between the optical data collected from "Robin" over a decade, and "Roman" infrared measurements, it will constitute a particularly strong database".
Collective measurements over the next 10 years may also help solve one of the mysteries of physics. Analyzing data on how galaxies grow, or even the growth of larger cosmic structures, could allow researchers to impose tougher restrictions on the masses of neutrino particles, which are fundamental particles that have no electrical charge and that rarely interact with ordinary matter.
Trillions of these ghostly particles pass through our bodies every second, creating no effect of any kind. As for the scale of distances between galaxies, their sheer numbers may have influences on the past and future of the evolution of the cosmic structure.
The space looks interesting to me and has great details that we have to understand very well.