Despite experts theorizing that dark matter actually accounts for most matter in the universe, there’s still very little we know about it. In fact, we’re not even 100% sure it exists. However, soon that could all change, as the Euclid space telescope has finally made its one million mile journey into its observational orbit and it has just sent back its first images.
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00:00 Dark matter.
00:05 Despite experts theorizing it actually accounts for most matter in the universe, there's still
00:09 very little we know about it.
00:11 In fact, we're not even 100% sure it exists.
00:14 However soon, that could all change, as the Euclid Space Telescope has finally made its
00:18 one million mile journey into its observational orbit, and now taken its first pictures of
00:23 space.
00:24 This is the first image sent back from the telescope, one its operators say is just a
00:29 test, as the telescope is still in its tuning period.
00:31 So how is it going to help astronomers better understand dark matter?
00:34 Well, the Euclid Space Telescope is set to begin assembling the biggest universal map
00:39 ever produced.
00:40 It's going to be capturing and stitching together images of upwards of 2 billion galaxies.
00:45 That includes taking in and revealing light sources that have traveled 10 billion years
00:49 to reach it.
00:50 The telescope's mission includes mapping a third of the entire sky, capturing both the
00:54 visible and infrared spectrums of light.
00:57 The visible spectrum allows astronomers to better see the shapes of the galaxies under
01:01 investigation, and the infrared lets them gauge distance.
01:04 Experts are hoping that better mapping space will unveil some of its secrets, including
01:08 dark matter, which is believed to make up around 80% of all mass in the universe.
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