With its exceptionally large field of view, Euclid covers an area 240 times larger than the Hubble telescope in a single exposure, and delivers outstanding image quality in both visible and infrared light. Euclid's near-infrared capabilities are particularly impressive thanks to the near-infrared optics of the NISP instrument, which was developed and built mainly at MPE. The instrument consists of four lenses, a filter and a beam splitter. "The requirements for the suppression of ghost images are exceeded by a factor of one hundred. The optical design and the precision of the optics set new standards in terms of image resolution and contrast," says Frank Grupp, who led the development of NISP.
Another important role of MPE is the processing of Euclid data. Together with the Max Planck Computing and Data Facility (MPCDF), it operates the German Science Data Centre (SDC-DE) on the Garching campus, one of nine European data centres, which uses 7,000 processors to handle about 10 percent of the data recorded by Euclid. "Every day, about 100 gigabytes of raw data are processed in near-real time. The demands on photometric precision are enormous and require completely new methods of data calibration," explains ORIGINS scientist Max Fabricius, who leads the SDC-DE.
A particular focus lies on the development of new methods to analyse the data and to meet the extremely high quality requirements, especially with regard to the photometric precision of the Euclid mission. Continuous testing, adaptation and innovation of the algorithms and technical infrastructure are essential.
Research into galaxy evolution
A catalog of over 70,000 spectroscopic redshifts, compiled from numerous different sky surveys, has now been combined with Euclid data. This catalog enables the precise distance determination and correct identification of many galaxies and quasars in the high-resolution Euclid image data, providing a foundation for a detailed understanding of these objects, their abundance, and their internal properties.
The catalogue has also been used to test the photometric redshifts obtained from the Euclid data itself. To ensure the highest possible quality of the photometric redshifts, the two scientists examined the Q1 data to optimise the calculation of the photometric redshifts. Ariel Sanchez and his team are studying the large-scale distribution of galaxies and voids - vast, almost matter-free regions of the Universe. Their goal is to develop new methods to precisely study the effects of dark energy on the structure of the universe.
12,000 active supermassive black holes discovered
Finally, the Euclid data will also provide new insights into X-ray astronomy. William Roster and ORIGINS scientist Mara Salvato analysed the Q1 data set, focusing on active galactic nuclei (AGN). These are galaxies with active supermassive black holes at their centres. They identified a total of 12,000 AGN and countless other X-ray sources. Diese Stichprobe ist bedeutend, da sich mit ihr zum ersten Mal tiefe, homogene Nahinfrarotdaten mit Röntgenbeobachtungen kombinieren lassen. This opens up new possibilities for discovering rare and elusive AGN, including highly obscured and high-redshift objects. Mara Salvato is thrilled about the future: "The insights from these observations will be of great importance for the analysis of future Euclid data sets - and we are very excited to see what new discoveries await us!"
Press release MPE
Press release ESA
Press release of the German Euclid Consortiums
Publications on ADS: Euclid Quick Data Release (Q1), Euclid Collaboration, 2025
Contact
Dr. Maximilian Fabricius
Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial physics / Excellence Cluster ORIGINS
email: mxhf(at)mpe.mpg.de
Dr. Mara Salvato
Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial physics / Excellence Cluster ORIGINS
email: mara(at)mpe.mpg.de
