Scientific Highlights

First images released from what will become the most complete “movie” of the night sky

June 23, 2025

The first images from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory launch a decade-long LSST survey of the southern sky, set to transform our understanding of dark energy, dark matter, and the transient universe. A consortium of Spanish institutions, including IFAE and PIC, is playing a key role in the scientific and technical development of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

New high-definition pictures of the baby universe

March 25, 2025

Research by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope collaboration has led to the clearest and most precise images yet of the universe’s infancy, the cosmic microwave background radiation that was visible only 380,000 years after the Big Bang. Due to IFAE’s participation in observatories that study galaxy distribution—such as DES, Euclid, and DESI—its researchers can leverage the new ACT maps in a unique way.

New DESI Results Strengthen Hints That Dark Energy May Evolve

March 20, 2025

The DESI collaboration published a new analysis of dark energy using their first three years of collected data, which spans nearly 15 million galaxies and quasars. This analysis combined the DESI data with information from studies of the cosmic microwave background, supernovae, and weak gravitational lensing. The standard model of cosmology struggles to explain all the observations when taken together — but a model where dark energy’s influence changes over time seems to fit the data well.

Euclid opens data treasure trove to study the Dark Universe

March 19, 2025

The European Space Agency’s Euclid mission has released its first set of survey data, offering a glimpse into its deep fields. IFAE and PIC contribute to the development of Euclid’s instrumentation, data processing, and scientific analysis.

New DESI Results Weigh In On Gravity

November 20, 2024

A complex analysis of DESI’s first year of data provides one of the most stringent tests yet of general relativity and how gravity behaves at cosmic scales. IFAE, ICCUB, CIEMAT, ICE-CSIC and IFT have played a significant role in achieving these important results.

The PAUS survey releases a new cosmic distance catalogue to unlock the mysteries of the Universe formation

September 18, 2024

The catalogue collects data for over 1.8 million objects gathered over 200 nights between 2015 and 2019. IFAE led the construction and integration of PAUCam, which was entirely carried out in-house in Barcelona.

ESA's Euclid celebrates first science with sparkling cosmic views

May 23, 2024

The Euclid Consortium announces the release of its first papers, demonstrating Euclid’s ability to unravel the secrets of the cosmos. IFAE and ICE-CSIC have been responsible for the development of the Filter Wheel Assembly, one of Euclid instruments. PIC hosts the Euclid Science Data Center and contributes to the misssion data processing.

First Results from DESI Make the Most Precise Measurement of Our Expanding Universe

April 6, 2024

Researchers have used the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument to make the largest 3D map of our universe and world-leading measurements of dark energy, the mysterious cause of its accelerating expansion. IFAE leads one of the three key publications presented in this study.

New measurement of cosmic distances in the Dark Energy Survey gives clues about the nature of dark energy

February 20, 2024

The measurement obtained fixes the scale of the universe when it was half its present age with an accuracy of 2%, the most accurate ever obtained for that time. Researchers from IFAE, CIEMAT, ICE-CSIC, and IFT have led the scientific analysis of the data.