BBC: ESA Gaia mission

[traveller]

one for the imaging buffs
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15242383
The sheer numbers alone are mind boggling... :eyepop:
Enjoy!
Bo

[glenc]

On Friday, the European Space Agency's Gaia telescope (http://blogs.esa.int/gaia/) will be flown to French Guiana to begin the preparations for launch on a Soyuz rocket in mid-November.

The satellite is going to make the ultimate map of the sky. For certain, its catalogues will underpin pretty much all of astronomy for decades to come.

Gaia will pinpoint about a billion stars and build a profile on each and every one, including:


exact coordinates, including distance
brightness
temperature
composition
age, and so on.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23779294