Archive for the Euclid Category

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Euclid Galaxy Zoo

Posted in Euclid, The Universe and Stuff with tags , , , , , , on August 1, 2024 by telescoper

Today sees the launch of a new initiative between Galaxy Zoo (part of the Zooniverse conglomerate) and the Euclid Consortium which I am delighted to be able to promote on this blog. What follows the graphic is the text of the announcement which is being promoted across social media today. I’ll start with a little factoid which might surprise you: already in November 2023, before science operations even began, Euclid had sent back to Earth more data than the Hubble Space Telescope has done in in its entire lifetime.

Thanks to a new Galaxy Zoo project launched today, you can help identify the shapes of thousands of galaxies in images taken by ESA’s Euclid space telescope. These classifications will help scientists answer questions about how the shapes of galaxies have changed over time, and what caused these changes and why. 

In its mission to map out the Universe, Euclid will image hundreds of thousands of distant galaxies. In November 2023 and May 2024, the world got its first glimpse at the quality of Euclid’s images, which included a variety of sources, from nearby nebulas to distant clusters of galaxies. In the background of each of these images are hundreds of thousands of distant galaxies. 

This square astronomical image shows thousands of galaxies across the black expanse of space. The closest thousand or so galaxies belong to the Perseus Cluster.

For the next six years, the spacecraft is expected to send around 100 GB of data back to Earth every day. That’s a lot of data, and labelling that through human effort alone is incredibly difficult.  

That’s why ESA and Euclid consortium scientists have partnered with Galaxy Zoo. This is a citizen science project on the Zooniverse platform, where members of the public can help classify the shapes of galaxies.  

Euclid will release its first catalogues of data to the scientific community starting in 2025, but in the meantime any volunteer on the Galaxy Zoo project can have a glimpse at previously unseen images from the telescope. 

You could be the first person to lay eyes on a galaxy 

The first set of data, which contains tens of thousands of galaxies selected from more than 800 000 images, has been made available on the platform, and is waiting for you to help classify them. 

If you partake in the project, you could be the first to lay eyes on Euclid’s latest images. Not only that, you could also be the first human ever to see the galaxy in the image.  

The Galaxy Zoo project was first launched in 2007, and asked members of the public to help classify the shapes of a million galaxies from images taken by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. In the past 17 years, Galaxy Zoo has remained operational, with more than 400 000 people classifying the shapes of galaxies from other projects and telescopes, including the the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope.  

Humans and AI working together 

These classifications are not only useful for their immediate scientific potential, but also as a training set for Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms. Without being taught what to look for by humans, AI algorithms struggle to classify galaxies. But together, humans and AI can accurately classify limitless numbers of galaxies. 

At Zooniverse, the team has developed an AI algorithm called ZooBot, which will sift through the Euclid images first and label the ‘easier ones’ of which a lot of examples already exist in previous galaxy surveys. When ZooBot is not confident on the classification of a galaxy, perhaps due to complex or faint structures, it will show it to users on Galaxy Zoo to get their human classifications, which will then help ZooBot to learn more.  

On the platform, volunteers will be presented with images of galaxies and will then be asked several questions, such as “Is the galaxy round?”, or “Are there signs of spiral arms?”. 

After being trained on these human classifications, ZooBot will be integrated in the Euclid catalogues to provide detailed classifications for hundreds of millions of galaxies, making it the largest scientific catalogue to date, and enabling groundbreaking new science.  

This project makes use of the ESA Datalabs digital platform to generate a large number of cutouts of galaxies imaged by Euclid. 

Thanks to a new Galaxy Zoo project launched today, you can help identify the shapes of thousands of galaxies in images taken by ESA’s Euclid space telescope. These classifications will help scientists answer questions about how the shapes of galaxies have changed over time, and what caused these changes and why. 

The first set of data, which contains tens of thousands of galaxies selected from more than 800 000 images, has been made available on the platform, and is waiting for you to help classify them.  

Examples of Euclid galaxies to classify are shown in this image.  

Euclid Galaxy Zoo galaxies to classify. Forty galaxies are shown against a black background. The galaxies are all different in shape, some look like spirals, some look barred, or smooth. Image credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard Licence 

About Euclid 

Euclid was launched in July 2023 and started its routine science observations on 14 February 2024. The goal of the mission is to reveal the hidden influence of dark matter and dark energy on the visible Universe. Over a period of six years, Euclid will observe the shapes, distances and motions of billions of galaxies out to 10 billion light-years.  

Euclid is a European mission, built and operated by ESA, with contributions from NASA. The Euclid Consortium – consisting of more than 2000 scientists from 300 institutes in 15 European countries, the USA, Canada and Japan – is responsible for providing the scientific instruments and scientific data analysis. ESA selected Thales Alenia Space as prime contractor for the construction of the satellite and its service module, with Airbus Defence and Space chosen to develop the payload module, including the telescope. NASA provided the detectors of the Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer, NISP. Euclid is a medium-class mission in ESA’s Cosmic Vision Programme. 

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The Last Zoom

Posted in Biographical, Euclid with tags , , on July 12, 2024 by telescoper

I mentioned about ten days ago that I was stepping down from my position as Chair and leaving the Euclid Consortium Diversity Committee (ECDC for short). The tedious matter of my broken laptop delayed the official handover, however, so it was only today that I managed to do the official handover to the new ECDC at a Zoom telecon. That was the last ECDC telecon I will chair and, indeed, the last one I will attend. I’ve been participating in these meetings every two weeks or so for four years now, for the last year as Chair, so they have been a regular feature in my calendar for quite a while. Chairing involves quite a lot of preparatory work – compiling and circulating the agenda, keeping minutes, etc – so it feels good to have the responsibility lifted!

I’d like to wish all the new members of the ECDC, who I met (virtually) for the first time today, and those previous members who are continuing, all the best in the future. I’d also like to extend personal thanks to those members who are leaving this year, especially Marc, Florence and Chiara. I’ve enjoyed everyone’s contribution to the discussions.

I’ll still have telecons for other things, of course. In fact I had two others today alone. Why are they so tiring? For better or worse, Zoom meetings are a standard part of academic life nowadays, even more so if you work in a big international consortium such as Euclid for which in-person meetings are not generally feasible. I won’t complain that I’ll be having many fewer of them in future though!

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Farewell to the ECDC!

Posted in Biographical, Euclid, Harassment Bullying etc with tags , , , , on July 2, 2024 by telescoper

It was officially announced at last year’s Euclid Consortium Meeting in Copenhagen that I had been appointed to the role of Chair of the Euclid Consortium Diversity Committee (ECDC). Following the tradition, a similar announcement was made at the Rome meeting this year that from 1st July there would be a new Chair in the form of Helmut Dannerbauer, who is based at the Instituto de Astrofísicas de Canarias on Tenerife. There are still a few loose ends to tie up, not helped by my computer problems, but I’m gradually winding up my activity on the ECDC and handing things over to Helmut.

As I pointed out in my post last year, I was in the final year of my stint on the ECDC when I was made Chair so it was always envisaged that I would serve for only one year. I only agreed to do it, in fact, because I had my sabbatical coming up. I definitely wouldn’t have been able to do the job alongside a full teaching and other workload and didn’t even consider continuing after my sabbatical was over.

Instead of trying to describe the role and activities of the ECDC generally, I will direct you to the information given on the brand new Euclid Consortium website which is a one-stop shop for everything to do with Euclid. You can find specific information about Equity, Diversity and Conduct there and/or on the ECDC’s own public website here from which I’ve taken a screengrab of the nice banner:

Just for information, the Euclid Consortium has about 2600 members so it really is a very large organization. It is also very international, with many people working in countries they were not born in and whose language is not their first. It is the aim of the ECDC to encourage a positive and inclusive environment within it for the benefit of everyone in it. The diversity in Euclid has many dimensions, including gender, nationality, ethnicity, and career stage as well as type of work; Euclid comprises specialists in instrumentation, software engineering, observational astronomy and theory to name but a few. The aim of the ECDC is to try to make sure everyone can work together in an inclusive environment.

It has been good to see over the few years some policies have been implemented to allow a greater diversity among leadership roles in the Euclid Consortium, especially by having a planned programme of rotating chairs and coordinators. I think this and other inititiatives are making a difference.

Euclid was launched a year ago yesterday, and the past twelve months have involved a huge amount of hard work by everyone concerned and not a little tension in some parts. The stress will continue as we head towards DR1, the first main Data Release, in 2026. The Euclid Consortium has a Code of Conduct to remind members to behave professionally towards their fellow workers at all times.

I’d like to wish all the new members of the ECDC, and those continuing, all the best in the future. I’d also like to extend personal thanks to those members who are leaving this year, especially Marc, Florence and Chiara. We have had regular telecons virtually every fortnight for the last year and I’ve enjoyed everyone’s contribution to the discussions.

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Two More Euclid ERO videos

Posted in Euclid, Football with tags , , , , on July 1, 2024 by telescoper

I’ve been a bit busy catching up on things since my departure from Barcelona with the result that I almost forgot to post anything today. Fortunately there are two more Euclid Early Release Observations I can share to fill the gap. They’re about 4 minutes apiece, so there’ll be plenty time to watch them while waiting for the VAR operators to make an offside decision during the next European Championship match…

The first is entitled Measuring Luminosity Function for the Perseus Cluster of Galaxies using Euclid ERO data:

The article describing this work can be found on arXiv here; it perhaps makes up for the missing article in the title of the video.

The second one is this, about gravitational lensing and the search for high-redshift galaxies:

The paper for this one can be found on arXiv here.

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Euclid Consortium Roma 2024

Posted in Euclid with tags , on June 24, 2024 by telescoper
I’m in there somewhere!

I thought I’d share the conference photograph from last week’s annual Euclid Consortium Meeting in Rome, along with a big “Thank You” to the organizers (both LOC and SOC). It’s a huge amount of work to organise a meeting of over 600 people.  Although I was only there for a couple of days, I thought it went very  well.

Next year’s meeting will be in Leiden in March so I probably won’t be able to attend because of teaching. But guess where it will be in 2026? Barcelona!

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Why Do We Need Simulations for the Euclid Telescope?

Posted in Euclid, The Universe and Stuff with tags , , on June 23, 2024 by telescoper

Until I can get my laptop fixed and/or get a new one, my ability to write blog posts is a bit limited. At least there is a sizeable collection of things to share, including a steady supply of  new videos from the Euclid Consortium like this one:

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Chaos in Rome and Barcelona

Posted in Barcelona, Euclid, Mental Health with tags , , , , , , on June 19, 2024 by telescoper

What I thought would be a straightforward trip back from Rome to Barcelona turned into nothing of the sort.

I arrived at Roma Termini station and got on a train for Fiumicino Airport. The train didn’t move, however, and eventually we passengers were told that we should get off and take a bus or a taxi because of “a problem on the line” which would take an indefinite time to fix.

I went to see if I could get a bus, but the queue was predictably enormous. Same story for taxis. After waiting over an hour I had all but given up hope of catching my flight when suddenly it was announced that the track problem was fixed and I got back on the train. It reached the airport in good time and I passed a very long queue of people waiting to travel in the opposite direction; trains into Roma Termini from Fiumicino had also been cancelled:

I still thought I would miss the flight, but I thought that once in the airport I could perhaps book another. Helped by the fact that I had already checked in online and only had hand luggage, however, I made it through security and to the gate just  in time to board.

So, all seemed well. I’ve travelled enough in Italy to have learnt how to cope with a fair amount of chaos.

I got back to Barcelona – which is somewhat cooler than Rome – just about on time and took the Aerobus as usual. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that today was the day that roads in the area around my flat were closed for a Formula 1 “Road Show”. The bus stopped at the edge of the sealed off area and passengers – many heavily laden with luggage – were left to make their way through the dense crowds. Whoever decided it was a good idea to block some of the busiest roads in Barcelona during the evening rush hour has a lot of questions to answer. The crush around Plaza de Catalunya was absurd and potentially dangerous, and not only for people like me who find such situations very difficult.

When I eventually got to my flat, I saw a protest against this stupid event had let to standoff in the street with some sinister-looking cops.

At home, and after a relaxing shower, I thought the day’s tribulations were over until I switched on my laptop and found it wouldn’t start:

Automatic Repair didn’t work so I logged a ticket with Maynooth IT Services. If they can’t fix it, it looks like I’ll be unable to work until I get a new machine…

…and blogging using my phone like this!

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The Mystery Object

Posted in Euclid with tags , , , , on June 18, 2024 by telescoper

Among the various items of Euclid Merch in the goody bag given to attendees at the annual Euclid Consortium Meeting in Rome are a nice bag, a cap, a notebook, and a mystery object:

Can anyone suggest what this item does?

(Wrong answers preferred.)

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Sono arrivato a Roma

Posted in Biographical, Euclid with tags , , , , on June 17, 2024 by telescoper
Crossing the Italian Coast

This morning, I took a short (~ 90 minute) flight from the pleasantly warm (23°C) Barcelona to the swelteringly hot (31°C) city of Rome. It’s actually forecast to be 39°C on Thursday and 40°C on Friday. Fortunately, I’m not staying that long!

The occasion for this trip is the annual Euclid Consortium Meeting, which is being held at the Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza“. The main sessions are in the splendid Aula Maxima thereof, with its imposing mural:

I’m giving a talk there in the first plenary session  tomorrow…

Update: here’s me giving my plenary talk:

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Euclid Updates

Posted in Euclid, The Universe and Stuff with tags , , , , , on June 11, 2024 by telescoper

I’m travelling back to Barcelona today, later than planned because I’ve had a heavy cold that I struggled to shake off and didn’t want to infect fellow passengers on the flight. While I’m in transit I thought I’d share some updates about the European Space Agency’s Euclid mission.

The first thing to share is a piece by Knud Jahnke with news about Euclid’s issue with ice in the optical system. The latest intervention has led to an improvement, but since it is a closed system ice will probably form again – though perhaps not in the same place – and further procedures will probably be necessary in future. In the meantime, though, the survey resumes.

Now for some short videos -three, to be precise – about the Early Release Observations mentioned here. I posted another one in this series here. I think the titles are self-explanatory:

And if that isn’t enough, for those of you who like simulations here is another video about the Euclid Flagship simulation described in this paper.

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