Europe's space telescope to target universe's dark mysteries

After a month-long journey through space, Euclid will join its fellow space telescope James Webb at a stable hovering spot around 1.5 million kilometers (more than 930,000 miles) from Earth called the second Lagrangian Point.

From there, Euclid will chart the largest-ever map of the universe, encompassing up to two billion galaxies across more than a third of the sky.

By capturing light that has taken 10 billion years to reach Earth, the map will also offer a new view of the 13.8-billion-year-old universe's history.

Scientists hope to use this information to address what the Euclid project manager Giuseppe Racca calls a "cosmic embarrassment": that 95 percent of the universe remains unknown to humanity.

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The sun rose early as the Euclid telescope is ready to study dark matter! Liftoff is scheduled for 15:12 UTC aboard Falcon 9 from the Cape
Source: @thenasaman

The Euclid telescope is encapsulated in Falcon 9's fairing
Source: @johnkrausphotos

Falcon 9 went vertical at SLC-40 early this morning ahead of today’s targeted launch of the ESA Euclid mission; weather is currently 90% favorable for liftoff at 15:12 UTC → http://spacex.com/launches

Briefing complete, mission control is GO for launch 🟢

We are ready, to peer 10 billion years back in time for a cosmic mystery
Source: @esaoperations

ESA Euclid's mirrors + its 2 instruments are made of a material only found naturally in space.

Silicon & carbon in the absence of oxygen forms Silicon Carbide, seen in meteorites & first made on Earth as substitute diamond.
Source: @ESA_Tech

Roll Call complete: Flight Director Andreas Rudolph has conducted the final roll call with all positions confirming 'GO' status for the launch of ESA's Euclid.
Source: @esaoperations

Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship

The second stage has completed another burn after a period of coasting. We're now waiting for payload deployment which is expected in about 20 minutes.

Deployment of ESA's Euclid confirmed.
Read more about the journey

As SpaceX's involvement in this mission ends here, you can follow EverythingScience for further coverage of Euclid's journey and the science that follows.

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