ESA Explains How Euclid Mission Will Uncover Secrets of Dark Matter and Dark Energy in Universe
Are you familiar with dark matter? According to the European Space Agency (ESA), the vast expanse between galaxies and stars, which appears empty, is actually filled with an enigmatic substance that eludes our sight. This substance possesses a significant gravitational pull, causing the light emitted by stars to bend as it travels towards Earth. To comprehend this occurrence, one can envision a prism altering the path of light through refraction. This gravitational bending is referred to as gravitational lensing. Scientists have observed this phenomenon extensively and have come to the realization that there exists an unidentified matter and force that cannot be accounted for by observable entities such as cold hydrogen atoms. Consequently, they have assigned the name “dark matter” to this elusive substance. The term “dark” is employed due to its apparent sole interaction with light and regular matter through gravity, rendering it invisible and undetectable by conventional sensors. Despite conducting meticulous experiments, scientists have yet to uncover any additional behaviors exhibited by dark matter. Even after prolonged study, the composition of dark matter remains unknown, presenting a perplexing puzzle that scientists are diligently striving to solve.
ESA’s Euclid Mission
ESA’s Euclid mission aims to create a detailed 3D map of the universe. Scientists use this map to study dark energy and dark matter, which are mysterious components of the universe. The map contains a lot of information and covers a large part of the sky. It also shows how things have changed over a very long time – 10 billion years. But dealing with all the new Euclid data is difficult. To prepare, the researchers created a highly accurate computer simulation of how the large structures of the universe, such as galaxies and clusters, formed and evolved. This simulation is called Euclid’s flagship. It runs on powerful computers and helps scientists understand how things, especially dark matter, move and behave in space. They can figure out where galaxies form and predict where they are in the sky.
How does Euclid work?
According to ESA, cosmology has experienced a shift towards precision science, the cosmological standard model has been established and its parameters are precisely measured. Euclid improves the accuracy of this model and helps us unravel the dark universe by studying the large-scale distribution of galaxies and cosmic structures 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. ESA further explains that we see observations of Gaia in our Milky Way galaxy. Euclid places very strict constraints on the cosmological model that governs our universe. Euclid creates images in the visible and near-infrared that cover a third of the sky. we’ve created the largest and most comprehensive virtual Galaxy catalog to date. we are going to fly through our simulated universe. This is a simulated Dark Matter distribution. We notice that it is not randomly distributed, but rather forms clusters of filaments and voids between galaxies are the hallmark of the distribution of Dark Matter in this visualization. They are shown in false colors depending on some of their properties. Note how different types of galaxies trace the underlying Dark Matter distribution. There are different types of galaxies that can be red green blue. Euclid’s flagship simulation allows us to visualize the universe from different perspectives, giving us a better understanding of the evolution of structure formation in our universe. over time we have reached the limit of our simulation, but this does not mean that these galaxies do not exist. Euclid explores even more than our simulated universe. we have observed the universe from earth from space. Euclid’s flagship simulation brings the Dark Universe to life by combining observations with our best theoretical model of the Dark Universe.
