Vectis Astronomical Society (VAS) holds its next monthly talk at Newchurch Pavilion on Friday 23rd October 2026.
Professor Adam Amara, Chief Scientist at the UK Space Agency, will speak in person on “The latest from Euclid: The Dark Universe Explorer”.
Euclid launched in July 2023 and now sits 1.5 million kilometres beyond Earth’s orbit at the L2 Lagrange Point.
What the telescope is mapping
The European Space Agency designed the mission to explore the composition and evolution of the dark Universe.
Euclid is building a map of the large-scale structure of the Universe, across space and time.
It does that by observing billions of galaxies out to 10 billion light-years. Those observations cover more than a third of the sky.
The mission aims to show how the Universe has expanded and how structures formed over cosmic history, and to reveal more about the role of gravity and the nature of dark energy and dark matter.
Who is speaking
Professor Amara is an astrophysicist who focuses on cosmology, the evolution of the Universe and exoplanet research.
He is also Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Surrey. VAS says he has added to the understanding of dark matter and dark energy, and of exoplanets.
The society also describes him as an advocate for science education who has worked across the world.
Professor Amara has spoken to VAS twice before, about his part in developing Euclid and about his vision for space in the UK, where he now plays a leading role.
VAS says it is extremely lucky to have secured his time again, and calls Euclid one of the most extraordinary astronomy missions of our age.
Book your tickets for the online event
Professor Amara will be speaking in person at Newchurch Pavilion, Watery Lane, Newchurch PO36 0LX on Friday 23rd October from 7.30pm.
If you can’t attend, you can view the talk online by booking your online tickets via EventBrite.
