Watch live: Space telescope launches on a mission to study ‘dark universe’
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Watch live as an orbital telescope launches on a mission to study the 'dark universe' on Saturday, 1 July.
It is hoped that the Euclid space telescope, built by the European Space Agency (ESA), will shed new light on the mysterious cosmic phenomena of dark energy and dark matter, unseen forces that scientists believe account for 95 per cent of the known universe.
It will launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida, and will go on to make a 3D map of the universe by observing billions of galaxies out to 10 billion light-years, across more than a third of the sky.
"By observing the Universe evolving over the past 10 billion years, Euclid will reveal how it has expanded and how structure has formed over cosmic history – and from this, astronomers can infer the properties of dark energy, dark matter and gravity, to reveal more about their precise nature," the ESA said.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments