(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . ESA Euclid Space Telescope launch today at 11:12 a.m. EDT [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-07-01 The ESA Euclid space telescope is scheduled for launch today at 11:12 a.m. EDT from Kennedy Space Center on a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Euclid is a space telescope designed to explore the dark Universe. It will make a 3D-map of the cosmos (with time as the third dimension) by observing billions of galaxies out to 10 billion light-years, across more than a third of the sky. In doing so, Euclid will tackle some of the most fundamental questions in cosmology – questions like: How did the Universe originate? Why is the Universe expanding at an accelerating rate? What is the nature of dark matter? What is dark energy? x ☕️ Good morning on #LaunchDay for #ESAEuclid! 🕵️‍♂️ 📺 Tune in to #ESAWebTV starting 16:30 CEST 👇https://t.co/lI1ogWYHlP 📌Expected key moments: 🚀 17:12 Lift off 🛰️ 17:53 Separation 📡 17:57 Earliest time to acquire Euclid’s signal Got questions? #askESA pic.twitter.com/uthzhSC5dB — ESA's Euclid mission (@ESA_Euclid) July 1, 2023 Weather forecast is good — x 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 11:12 a.m. ET → https://t.co/bJFjLCiTbK pic.twitter.com/WGpqEvis6b — SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 1, 2023 Details Location: Lissajous orbit around the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point, 1.5 million km away from Earth (similar to JWST) Telescope: 1.2 meter three-mirror Korsch type telescope. Instruments: The visible imager (VIS) instrument and the Near Infrared Spectro-Photometer (NISP). See graphic below for details. Overview of Euclid science - What is dark matter/energy? Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter thought to account for the “missing mass” in the universe. Dark matter is called "dark" because it does not appear to interact with the electromagnetic field, which means it does not absorb, reflect, or emit electromagnetic radiation and is, therefore, difficult to detect. Dark energy is a hypothetical form of energy that is proposed by physicists to explain why the universe is not just expanding but is doing so at an accelerating rate. Roughly 68% of the universe is dark energy. Dark matter makes up about 27%. The rest - everything on Earth, everything ever observed with all of our instruments, all normal matter - adds up to less than 5% of the universe. science.nasa.gov/… Euclid’s Journey Euclid traveled from Cannes, France to Savona, Italy by truck and then sailed to Cape Canaveral in Florida, on the MN Colibri, the same ship that had transported the Webb Telescope from L.A. to Kourou, French Guiana. x While @ESA_JUICE is waiting at @EuropeSpacePort for good sky to fly today to space, @ESA_Euclid after road transport from Cannes (France) to Savona (Italy) is now ready to sail to Cape Canaveral in a dedicated container on the #MNColibri ship. pic.twitter.com/o4x1XSZhOT — ESA's Euclid mission (@ESA_Euclid) April 14, 2023 x ...and so it begins, @ESA_Euclid boat trip towards the launch base🚢🚀. Stay tuned for the next updates🔜📽📷. #spaceforlife pic.twitter.com/NICQUxq3Q2 — Thales Alenia Space (@Thales_Alenia_S) April 15, 2023 x After a two-week cruise of the #Atlantic, @ESA_Euclid is in the United States, Florida,🇺🇸 to continue its path toward the launch 🚀🌌. Stay tuned for updates from the launch campaign! #spaceforlife@esa @esascience pic.twitter.com/n76OM8kb4L — Thales Alenia Space (@Thales_Alenia_S) May 2, 2023 x Good morning and welcome to launch day for @ESA_Euclid! Images from yesterday's rollout to the launch pad in Florida. ⏰ Target launch today: 1 July 16:12 BST/17:12 CEST. 📷#ESAWebTV 📷 https://t.co/cPbPMCWZ39 More live coverage details: https://t.co/pfPJKRTmHM #ESAEuclid pic.twitter.com/hSO4n8cgJW — ESA (@esa) July 1, 2023 Webcast: Links [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/1/2178720/-ESA-Euclid-Space-Telescope-launch-today-at-11-12-a-m-EDT Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/