Gaia Parallax Measurement?

[Dart15]

Hi All,

 

Does anyone know how the new Gaia telescope measures distances e.g. parallax to the distant stars ?

 

I am just interested in the basic principle. It would be easy to use the Gaia - Earth distance as the baseline for the traingle and then for Gaia and an observatory on Earth to measure the two angles to the star at the same time. That would enable the Parallax angle and the distance to be calculated.

 

BUT, is this how it is done?

 

I have looked at the Gaia ETSA site but there is no explanation that I can find.

 

George

 

 

 

 

[Ophiolite]

As a guess, use this sequence:

1. Determine spectral class of star.

2. Thereby obtain value for absolute luminosity.

3. Measure observed luminosity.

4. Calculate distance.

 

And as the site implies, use Doppler shift to determine velocities.

Edited October 4, 2014 by Ophiolite

[mathematic]

Hi All,

 

Does anyone know how the new Gaia telescope measures distances e.g. parallax to the distant stars ?

 

I am just interested in the basic principle. It would be easy to use the Gaia - Earth distance as the baseline for the traingle and then for Gaia and an observatory on Earth to measure the two angles to the star at the same time. That would enable the Parallax angle and the distance to be calculated.

 

BUT, is this how it is done?

 

I have looked at the Gaia ETSA site but there is no explanation that I can find.

 

George

 

 

 

 

You are correct. However I don't believe that is its principal mission. A much wider base is used by observations 6 months apart.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_(spacecraft)