Once again, high school students undertake summer placements at the IEEC as part of the ‘Youth and Science’ programme

During these summer months, the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC — Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya) has once again, for the third consecutive year, offered the opportunity to get up close to the daily tasks of a team of researchers as part of the ‘Youth and Science‘ science careers promotion programme.  

During the second phase of this programme, promoted by the Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera, two high school students have undertaken a placement with a research group; for many, this is a way to steer their academic and professional future.

Beyond the scientific and technical knowledge each group provides, the ‘Youth and Science’ placements also enable students to develop key skills such as communication, decision-making, and teamwork.

Read on for more details about each of the research stays undertaken:

The Montsec Observatory (OdM), managed by the IEEC and located in Sant Esteve de la Sarga (Pallars Jussà), hosted student Aran Ferré, supervised by support and operations astronomer Gemma Domènech. During the placement, Aran worked on exoplanet photometry, analysing data from transits (minor eclipses caused when planets pass in front of their host star) observed using the Joan Oró Telescope (TJO), in preparation for the Ariel mission of the European Space Agency (ESA). At the same time, she participated in supervising the operations of the observatory’s robotic telescopes and helping set up astronomical instrumentation for the Wide-Field Fast Telescope (TRAC), the latest telescope installed at the Observatory, in May 2025.

Additionally, the student had the opportunity to attend two high-level events: the Space Economy Congress, where she gained first-hand insight into the growing Catalan and international space sector, and the XVII Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society, held this year in Tarragona with significant participation from the IEEC’s various research units.

During his six-week placement with the Supernovae and Stellar Transients group at the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC), Daniel Criado worked on searching for and studying supernovae in optical and infrared images captured by ESA’s Euclid space telescope. Researcher Lluís Galbany mentored this student, who, using a database of transient phenomena discovered since Euclid began operations in 2023, identified which of these objects had also been observed by the space telescope. This search yielded around 300 candidates, roughly fifty of which had already been classified as supernovae.

Finally, he measured the brightness of these transients in the Euclid images and combined these measurements with public light curves from the ZTF and ATLAS projects. This new information—particularly valuable due to Euclid’s infrared observations—helps better characterise the evolution of these stellar explosions and allows their properties to be studied in greater detail.