Euclid VIS CCD
Date: 06 February 2017
Satellite: Euclid
Depicts: VIS CCD
Copyright: e2v
This is one of the VIS CCDs that will fly on the science payload of ESA's Euclid mission.
Euclid will carry a 1.2-m-aperture telescope with two instruments: the visual imager (VIS) and the near-infrared spectrometer and photometer (NISP).
The focal plane array of the VIS instrument will contain 36 CCDs. These VIS CCD detectors, one of which is pictured above, are tailor-made to meet the demanding requirements of the mission. They have extremely high efficiency, low noise, good radiation tolerance, and 12-micron pixels to match the resolution of the telescope optics.
Each large area CCD comprises 4096 pixels × 4132 pixels so that the entire VIS instrument will generate 610-megapixel images – 25 times larger than a top-of-the-range digital camera and with far superior image quality.
These CCDs, which are being provided by ESA, are made by e2v.
Euclid is an ESA survey mission to investigate the nature of dark matter and dark energy. It was selected as the second medium-class mission in the Cosmic Vision programme in October 2011 and is scheduled for launch in 2020.
