Portsmouth Professor behind Euclid space telescope watches 20 year dream blast into space

WATCH: Euclid lifts off in Florida on a SpaceX Rocket

It was the culmination of a twenty year dream - and now it's become a reality for Hampshire professor Adam Amara.

His brainchild, Europe's newest space telescope, Euclid, has blasted off on a million-mile journey to uncover the mysteries of the dark universe.

Euclid was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 4.12pm UK time on Saturday and should take a month to reach its destination.

It was watched by Professor Amara, Director of Portsmouth University's Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation.

He was one of the first people to propose the idea for a telescope 18 years ago, which has now become Euclid.

He was involved in the design and specification at the very beginning and was delighted to see it launch in person.

He said: “There's a part of me that can't believe this is actually happening. In 2005, a tiny group of us launched this idea.

"Now almost 20 years later, close to 3,000 people have worked together to make this dream a reality.

"The next phase, where we actually measure the universe, is going to be incredibly exciting. Who knows what new discoveries await us?”

Named after the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid, the two-tonne probe is travelling towards an area in space known as the second Lagrange point, where the gravitational forces of Earth and the sun are roughly equal – creating a stable location for the spacecraft.

The UK has contributed £37 million towards the £850 million mission, with scientists playing key roles in designing and building the probe and leading on one of the two scientific instruments on board

The aim of the mission is to shed light on two of the universe’s greatest mysteries: dark energy and dark matter.

Reflecting on the successful take-off, European Space Agency (ESA) director general Josef Aschbacher said: “I can tell you the mood is amazing, we have a mission.

“It’s such a happy moment to see this mission now flying to its destination and then of course taking all these measurements of dark energy and dark matter which fascinate us, where we have so many questions that are being answered by this data.

“Amazing and very happy and very thrilled.”

Euclid’s six-year mission aims to scrutinise the dark universe to better understand why it is rapidly expanding.

It will make use of a cosmic phenomenon known as gravitational lensing, where matter acts like a magnifying glass, bending and distorting light from galaxies and clusters behind it, to capture high-quality images.

These images will help astronomers gain insights into the elusive dark matter, particles that do not absorb, reflect or emit light.

Dark matter cannot be seen directly, but scientists know it exists because of the effect it has on objects that can be observed directly.

They believe it “binds together galaxies creating the environment for stars, planets and life”.

The mission will also explore dark energy, which is thought to push galaxies apart, causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate.

More than 2,000 scientists across Europe have been involved in the mission, from its design to its construction and analysis.