Euclid Quick Data Release (Q1): VIS processing and data products

Understand

This paper describes the VIS Processing Function (VIS PF) of the Euclid ground segment pipeline, which processes and calibrates raw data from the VIS camera.

• We present the algorithms used in each processing element, along with a description of the on-orbit performance of VIS PF, based on Performance Verification (PV) and Q1 data.
• We demonstrate that the principal performance metrics (image quality, astrometric accuracy, photometric calibration) are within pre-launch specifications.
• The image-to-image photometric scatter is less than $0.8\%$, and absolute astrometric accuracy compared to Gaia is $5$ mas Image quality is stable over all Q1 images with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of $0.\!^{\prime\prime}16$.