Space South Central Institutions Power Euclid’s Ground-Breaking Dark Universe Discoveries

Strong gravitational lenses captured by Euclid

Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by M. Walmsley, M. Huertas-Company, J.-C. Cuillandre

Hampshire and Surrey expertise accelerates cosmic discoveries through UK-led technology and data innovation.

Breakthroughs from the European Space Agency’s Euclid mission, released today, reveal unprecedented insights into dark matter and energy, powered by cutting-edge contributions from Hampshire and Surrey institutions. Backed by £37 million from the UK Space Agency, the mission highlights the region’s leadership in cosmic exploration and technological innovation.

Surrey’s Engineering Mastery

UCL’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL) in Dorking spearheaded the development of Euclid’s 609-megapixel Visible Imager (VIS), one of the largest cameras ever launched into space. Designed over 16 years by a UCL-led team, the VIS captures razor-sharp images of galaxies up to 10 billion light-years away. Teledyne Imaging collaborated on radiation-hardened detectors critical for withstanding harsh space conditions.

Hampshire’s Data Revolution

At the University of Portsmouth, Dr. Seshadri Nadathur’s team developed software to process Euclid’s torrent of data—850 gigabytes daily—enabling the classification of 380,000 galaxies and transient phenomena like supernovae. Professor Thomas Collett, leading gravitational lens analysis, stated:

“Euclid has provided spectacular image quality across a huge area of the sky, which is critical to discovering small, rare objects. We've found 500 new strong gravitational lenses in the Euclid dataset."

These lenses, where light bends around massive galaxies, allow scientists to map dark matter distribution and refine measurements of the universe’s invisible components.

Chief Scientist’s Vision

Professor Adam Amara, UK Space Agency Chief Scientist and Euclid’s original proposer, underscored its dual role:
“Previously, astronomers like me used wide low-resolution surveys to find strong lenses and then requested Hubble for follow-up observations. Now, Euclid accomplishes both tasks in one shot. I'm excited to see what 'unknown-unknowns' it will discover - it's been a long wait.”

Mission Impact and Innovation

The Euclid mission launched in July 2023 to map the ‘dark Universe’. It will observe two billion galaxies and create a 3D map of the universe, focusing on its structure and cosmic history.

Euclid, led by ESA and a consortium of 2,000 scientists from 16 countries, will operate for six years. Euclid has already mapped 2,000 square degrees (14% of its target) and will deliver its first cosmology data in October 2026.

Five UK-led research papers in today’s release cement our regional institutions as linchpins in decoding dark energy’s mysteries. Professor Mark Cropper (UCL MSSL), VIS lead, highlighted its legacy:

“Euclid is allowing us to understand the universe on another level entirely. It gives us fine detail over a vast scale. To pick one example, Euclid found 70,000 globular clusters – very old, tightly packed groups of stars – in the Perseus Cluster of galaxies. And it has found 500 strong gravitational lenses, where light from distant galaxies has been bent by intervening matter - that doubles the number we knew about previously. All this and much more in just two days of data.”