Euclid: Europe's 'dark explorer' telescope launches Published 6 hours ago Share Media caption, Watch: 'Dark explorer' telescope launched into space please log in to view this image By Jonathan Amos BBC Science Correspondent @BBCAmos A European space telescope has launched from Florida on a quest to resolve one of the biggest questions in science: What is the Universe made of? The Euclid mission will make an immense 3D map of the cosmos in an effort to tie down some of the properties of so-called dark matter and dark energy. Together, these phenomena appear to control the shape and expansion of everything we see out there. Researchers concede, however, they know virtually nothing about them. Neither dark matter nor dark energy are directly detectable. This big gap in knowledge meant we couldn't really explain our origins, said Prof Isobel Hook. Euclid's insights will be our best bet to get on to a path of understanding, the astronomer at the UK's Lancaster University believes. "It will be like setting off on a ship before people knew where land was in different directions. We'll be mapping out the Universe to try to understand where we fit into it and how we've got here - how the whole Universe got from the point of the Big Bang to the beautiful galaxies we see around us, the Solar System and to life," she told BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66066710
