Euclid is the second Medium (M2) class mission of the Science Programme of the European Space Agency (ESA), approved by the Science Programme Committee (SPC) in June 2012.
The satellite hosts a 1.2 metre diameter mirror telescope and two scientific instruments scientific instruments, the VISible Instrument (VIS) and the Near Infrared Spectrometer Photometer (NISP) which will carry out a study of the extragalactic sky with the aim of obtaining highly accurate images and measuring spectra. high accuracy and measure the spectra of millions of galaxies. At the end of its operational life Euclid will have produced images and photometric data for more than a billion galaxies and millions of spectra. galaxies and millions of galaxy spectra. It is one of the most ambitious missions ever undertaken by the European Space Agency (ESA) and involves numerous local, Italian and international scientific institutions.
SISSA, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica - Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste (INAF-OATs) and the University of Trieste (UniTS) are strongly involved in the mission: they are in fact protagonists both for the development of the technical and scientific analysis algorithms, and in the interpretation of data, as well as having the responsibility for the operations of the instruments on board the satellite.
Image: ESA/C. Carreau