All-sky Imaging of the Dark Universe with Euclid

Euclid is a space mission to map the geometry and evolution of the dark universe with unprecedented precision. Its primary goal is to place high accuracy constraints on Dark Energy, Dark Matter and Gravity using two independent cosmological probes: weak gravitational lensing and baryonic acoustic oscillations. For this purpose, Euclid will measure the shape and spectra of galaxies over the entire extragalactic sky in the visible and NIR, out to redshift 2, thus covering the period over which dark energy accelerated the universe expansion (<10 Billion years). Galaxy clusters and the Integrated Sachs-Wolf effect will be used as secondary cosmological probes. The Euclid datasets will also provide a unique legacy surveys for the study of galaxy evolution, large-scale structure, the search for high redshift objects and for various other fields of astronomy.

Euclid is currently undergoing an Assessment phase within ESA's Cosmic Vision Programme. In the current baseline, the Euclid Payload consists of a 1.2m telescope with a Visible Imaging (VIS) channel, a NIR Photometric (NIP) channel, and a NIR Spectroscopic (NIS) channel. These pages describe the activities of the Euclid Imaging Consortium (EIC) responsible for the study of the imaging instruments (VIS and NIP). These instruments are inherited from the Dark UNiverse Explorer (DUNE) Mission concept. The consortium currently comprises various institutes in France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, UK, and the US.