Please join us again this Friday December 2nd for our second research bites of the term. – Featuring Prof. Martin Barstow, talking about ESA’s Gaia mission.

We will be in workshop room E (F23) from 1-2pm, the talk will last around 15-20 minutes, with time for questions afterwards. Free refreshments will be available, but feel free to bring your lunch!

Abstract

The ESA Gaia space mission is far less well-known than either Hubble or the Webb Space Telescope. Yet, it is one of the most important telescopes ever launched. Now, more than half way through its 10-year mission to study all the stars visible from our location in the Milky Way, it is providing a revolution of our understanding of the Universe. Gaia is measuring the physical parameters of almost 2 billion stars, providing accurate distances and brightness for all these. The data has NEVER been available before and underpins all that we know about the luminosity of stars, their lifecycles, the structure of the Milky Way and, ultimately, the history and age of the Universe. This talk will describe the Gaia mission and examine the impact it is having on astronomy.