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| Paper: |
The Gaia Mission: Science Highlights |
| Volume: |
338, Astrometry in the Age of the Next Generation of Large Telescopes |
| Page: |
15 |
| Authors: |
Mignard, F. |
| Abstract: |
This paper (an abridged version of a more comprehensive paper published by ESA [Mignard 2005]) provides an overview of the science objectives of the Gaia mission, illustrated by a few examples. Starting with the expected performance, it shows how the combined and repeated information on each source will lead to a giant leap in our current knowledge of stellar and galactic physics, resulting both from the accuracy on individual objects and from the statistical exploitation of the unbiased census of over one billion stars. Attention is drawn to the additional science output of the mission, including the detection of extra-solar planetary systems, the determination of thousands of stellar masses, the massive impact on Solar System studies, and the direct realisation of the primary inertial frame in the visible. |
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