Cosmic rays strike again!

A software update fixed the #Euclid mission's Fine Guidance Sensor which was having trouble filtering out the random noise, caused by high-energy particles hitting the telescope's detector, to get the signal of real stars.

Euclid would lose its guide stars and then automatically start to look for them again, creating loopy star trails. Great for accidental science art, bad for science.

👉 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03174-4

📷 https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Euclid/Guide_stars_found_as_Euclid_s_navigation_fine_tuned

https://cdn.masto.host/astrodonsocial/media_attachments/files/111/190/855/983/199/513/original/9fb27d803ebe1038.jpeg 

 @a8354057 There should be a hashtag for #AccidentalScienceArt. I’d follow that. 😃