CERN software to look at the cosmos
In November, the EUCLID space telescope released the first full-colour images of the cosmos. It was launched by the European Space Agency in the summer of 2023 and this mission has received support from CERN since its inception. Euclid’s 850 Gbit of daily data cannot be handled by one data centre and must be distributed among many data centres, which is a problem also faced at CERN. To make the distribution as efficient as possible, Euclid is using a software developed at CERN, called CVMFS (CernVM File System) which provides an appropriate file and software-sharing tool to allow thorough big-data analysis.
Euclid’s view of spiral galaxy IC 342, nicknamed the “Hidden Galaxy” (Image: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO)
of EUCLID data processed daily
by CERN software CVMFS
Given the complexity of the infrastructure and the pressure in analysing the data as fast as possible, the support and expertise of CERN is of high relevance– Luca Valenziano, Euclid Consortium representative at CERN