Gaia - ESA billion star survey satellite

SBird · 2004-08-11 12:10:50

http://www.esa.int/export/esaSC/120377_ … .html]here

This is a really cool mission the ESA is sending up in 2010. IT's a followup to Hipparcos. Like Hipparcos, it uses super precise star positioning to measure paralax distances to stars. However, it's 100 times as accurate as Hipparcos and will measure the distances to a billion stars to an accuracy of <10% as far out as the galactic core. It will also have very high accuract spectrometers which will allow the spectral characterization of all of those stars. This allows the creation a a catalog of the position and motion of a billion stars.

Furthermore, Gaia's capabilities allow for the detection of trans-Neptunian objects like small palentoids, asteroids and comets. They expect hundreds to thousand of new finds this way. Also, the Doppler shift motion sensors will allow the detection of hundreds of new planetary systems in nearby stars.

Palomar · 2004-08-11 12:25:50

and will measure the distances to a billion stars to an accuracy of <10% as far out as the galactic core. It will also have very high accuract spectrometers which will allow the spectral characterization of all of those stars. This allows the creation a a catalog of the position and motion of a billion stars.
Furthermore, Gaia's capabilities allow for the detection of trans-Neptunian objects like small palentoids, asteroids and comets. They expect hundreds to thousand of new finds this way. Also, the Doppler shift motion sensors will allow the detection of hundreds of new planetary systems in nearby stars.

*Yippee! Here's hoping it'll be as successful as it is ambitious. :band:

"Hundreds to thousands of new finds"...sounds like a scrumptious cosmic smorgasboard to me. :;):

--Cindy

SpaceNut · 2004-08-11 20:47:45

Rather than Nasa always doing just about the same things as the other space nations, Why not just pay for the data that would be of interest or for the research time. Lets start working more together for the common interest rather than against each other or independently.

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2004-12-27 01:51:47

Rather than Nasa always doing just about the same things as the other space nations, Why not just pay for the data that would be of interest or for the research time. Lets start working more together for the common interest rather than against each other or independently.

Yes, that's a smart plan for the US. The USA can't always be spending out the cash and lifting stuff up, more so now that we had this trouble with safety, trying to get the shuttle right again for manned flights and now have the push for Mars. The Russians have already worked close with America as partners on the spacestation, and the Euros are helping out in various missions and the ESA giving money and support like the Cassini-Huygens project. NASA could gain much from this mission without it taking up to much of NASA's manpower and time, it seems like a good mission and I look forward to hearing more about Gaia and its plans for the future

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2005-06-14 13:23:40

Gaia making a map of over a billion stars
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object … ctid=37532
Gaia CCD
create the largest and most precise three dimensional chart of our Galaxy by providing unprecedented positional and radial velocity measurements for about one billion stars in our Galaxy and throughout the Local Group.
http://www.sharecast.com/cgi-bin/sharec … _id=492947
distance estimates limit will be considerably greater than 1,000 ly. With a measuring accuracy of about 4 microarcseconds, Gaia will observe at the L2 point which is located directly behind the Earth as seen from the Sun, the baseline is as usual, the diameter of Earth's orbit. It's just that the spacecraft is extremely accurate, it should be able to determine the distance to stars with 1% accuracy out to 2500 pc, or almost 8200 l.y. The 10% accuracy distance would be ten times farther, or 25 kpc.
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMC7L1DU8E_in … dex_0.html
http://www.newscientistspace.com/channe … ech/dn7511
Gaia's goal is to perform the largest census of our Galaxy and build a highly accurate 3D map. The satellite will determine the position, colour and true motion of one thousand million stars and over 100,000 objects in our Solar System. Gaia will also identify as many as 10,000 planets around other stars.

To accomplish this ambitious task, Gaia requires the largest focal plane of charged couple devices (CCDs) ever built for space application.

Palomar · 2005-06-14 14:13:43

Gaia making a map of over a billion stars
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object … ctid=37532
Gaia CCD
create the largest and most precise three dimensional chart of our Galaxy by providing unprecedented positional and radial velocity measurements for about one billion stars in our Galaxy and throughout the Local Group.
...
Gaia's goal is to perform the largest census of our Galaxy and build a highly accurate 3D map. The satellite will determine the position, colour and true motion of one thousand million stars and over 100,000 objects in our Solar System. Gaia will also identify as many as 10,000 planets around other stars.

*This is going to be FAN-TAS-TIC! And in 3D to boot. Marvelous.

--Cindy

EuroLauncher · 2006-01-18 11:07:56

News from Gaia
http://www.rssd.esa.int/index.php?proje … page=index

http://www.primidi.com/2004/09/13.html
Gaia and its Billion-Pixel Camera

Mars_B4_Moon · 2006-04-05 21:05:28

more data on the mission here

http://www.photoscala.com/node/view/320
http://www.obs-nice.fr/mignard/Html/Research.html

cIclops · 2006-05-11 13:45:16

Contract given to EADS for construction

Paris, 11 May 2006 – EADS Astrium has signed a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop and build the satellite for the Global Astrometric Interferometer for Astrophysics (Gaia) mission. Gaia will create an extraordinarily precise 3-D map of the Galaxy, mapping and recording more than one billion stars over a five year period. The satellite, worth €317 million, is due to be launched in 2011.

RedStreak · 2006-05-12 16:31:37

This will defientely be the first step in building a galactic map. Sure a billion out of a few trillion stars in the galaxy is barely a drop in the bucket but still not bad. Beats counting the stars in the sky one by one...

Hopefully we can get an idea of what's out there, in our immediate portion of galaxy that is. It will help us make better assumptions of the rest of our galaxy and in turn other galaxies, maybe even direct SETI or planet-detection efforts.

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2007-01-21 06:01:57

http://www.businessweekly.co.uk/news/Lo … e_id=11373
e2v sensor probes extra terrestrials

Rxke · 2007-01-21 06:06:37

businessweekly says: subscription required

Mars_B4_Moon · 2007-02-07 15:56:30

gaia wiki
Gaia will compile a catalogue of approximately one billion stars to magnitude 20. Its objectives comprise (a) astrometric (or positional) measurements, determining the positions, distances, and annual proper motions of stars with an accuracy of about 20 µas (microarcsecond) at 15 mag, and 200 µas at 20 mag; (b) photometric measurements, providing multi-colour multi-epoch observations of each detected object; and (c) radial velocity measurements. Gaia will create an extremely precise three-dimensional map of stars throughout our Milky Way galaxy and beyond, and map their motions which encode the origin and subsequent evolution of the Milky Way.

cIclops · 2007-03-09 03:14:53

Not only will Gaia map a billion stars, it's estimated that in the process it will detect between 10 000 and 50 000 exoplanets - this would be a remarkable result.

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2007-06-11 02:38:40

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/sp … tree_N.htm

New research into the chemical composition of stars could identify our Sun's long lost family and begin to unravel the complex history of our galaxy.

Gayandhi De Silva and colleagues at the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) used the instrument's Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES) to examine three open star clusters in our Milky Way galaxy.

Open clusters are loosely gravitationally bound groups containing up to a few thousand individual stars. These clusters formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud of gas and can have ages up to 10 billion years.

The identification of those other 4.6 billion year vintage stars may only be a matter of time.
"To do this sort of "chemical tagging" we need to have quality high resolution spectroscopic data.
The upcoming ESA's GAIA mission will surely give a boost to testing these techniques, plus future high efficiency spectrographs on Extremely Large telescopes will also provide much of the required data," De Silva said.

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2007-06-14 23:37:18

SPC Approves DPAC Proposal for Gaia Data Processing
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object … ctid=41074

cIclops · 2008-05-19 04:44:40

WMAP poses for ESA's Gaia - 8 May 2008

The main goal of the Gaia mission is to make the largest, most precise three-dimensional map of our Galaxy. To this end Gaia will survey the entire sky to detect and very accurately measure the position and motion of each star down to mv~20 that passes its field of view.
The correct scientific evaluation of Gaia's position measurements makes it necessary that the absolute velocity of the spacecraft with respect to the Solar-System barycentre must be known to 2.5 mms-1, or to one part in 10 million, and the absolute position to 150 metres, or to one part in a thousand million.

Mars_B4_Moon · 2021-11-27 15:17:54

Gaia reveals that most Milky Way companion galaxies are newcomers to our corner of space

https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Gaia … e_999.html

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-02-28 16:52:32

Gaia reveals a new member of the Milky Way family

https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Imag … Way_family

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-05-24 06:57:52

Thanks to Gaia, Astronomers are Able to Map Out Nebulae in 3D

https://www.universetoday.com/156010/th … lae-in-3d/

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#1 2004-08-11 12:10:50

Re: Gaia - ESA billion star survey satellite

#2 2004-08-11 12:25:50

Re: Gaia - ESA billion star survey satellite

#3 2004-08-11 20:47:45

Re: Gaia - ESA billion star survey satellite

#4 2004-12-27 01:51:47

Re: Gaia - ESA billion star survey satellite

#5 2005-06-14 13:23:40

Re: Gaia - ESA billion star survey satellite

#6 2005-06-14 14:13:43

Re: Gaia - ESA billion star survey satellite

#7 2006-01-18 11:07:56

Re: Gaia - ESA billion star survey satellite

#8 2006-04-05 21:05:28

Re: Gaia - ESA billion star survey satellite

#9 2006-05-11 13:45:16

Re: Gaia - ESA billion star survey satellite

#10 2006-05-12 16:31:37

Re: Gaia - ESA billion star survey satellite

#11 2007-01-21 06:01:57

Re: Gaia - ESA billion star survey satellite

#12 2007-01-21 06:06:37

Re: Gaia - ESA billion star survey satellite

#13 2007-02-07 15:56:30

Re: Gaia - ESA billion star survey satellite

#14 2007-03-09 03:14:53

Re: Gaia - ESA billion star survey satellite

#15 2007-06-11 02:38:40

Re: Gaia - ESA billion star survey satellite

#16 2007-06-14 23:37:18

Re: Gaia - ESA billion star survey satellite

#17 2008-05-19 04:44:40

Re: Gaia - ESA billion star survey satellite

#18 2021-11-27 15:17:54

Re: Gaia - ESA billion star survey satellite

#19 2022-02-28 16:52:32

Re: Gaia - ESA billion star survey satellite

#20 2022-05-24 06:57:52

Re: Gaia - ESA billion star survey satellite

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