ESA and SpaceX send Europe's $1.5bn Euclid telescope into space to study dark matter and dark energy

Another observatory has appeared in space. It's called Euclid and costs about $1.5 billion. The space telescope was launched by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket.

Here's What We Know

The space observatory was developed by the European Space Agency (ESA). Euclid will be 1.5 million kilometres away from our planet and will be in the same orbit as the James Webb telescope. Scientists are expected to be able to obtain the first data next year.

The observatory is equipped with a VISible Imager (VIS), Near Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer (NISP) imaging system. Euclid will take photographs of billions of stars and galaxies over six years, allowing scientists to learn more about dark energy and dark matter.

It's worth noting that Euclid was originally supposed to go into space on a Russian Soyuz rocket from a launch site in French Guiana. Due to the invasion of Ukraine, many projects involving Russia were closed down. As a result, Euclid went into space on a US Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, California.

Source: ESA