New Gaia-telescope launched to Space

This is interesting news. That telescope is going to cause some breakthroughs.
news.sky.com...

And what is Gaia you ask?
Its high tech telescope designed to measure the distances of stars. We have never had so accurate system to measure the distances of them. Its the most advanced satellite ever created by European Space Agency (ESA). Though its designed to measure the distances, it can also detect previously undiscovered planets and stars, and supernovae. They have developed the telescope for the last 20 years!

The goal of this mission is to make 3d model of Milky Way galaxy as it tracks over 1 billion stars (1% of stars in Milky Way). It will monitor each stars about 70 times during its 5-year service age. To do that, telescope spins very slowly in Lagrangian point 2. Its actually composed of 2 telescopes which have wide angle between them.


Artists impression

Video about its launch and how it works: (I have no idea how to embed that)
spaceinvideos.esa.int...

en.wikipedia.org...(spacecraft)

well that is interesting , cant wait for the data that will be coming from it .

and by the way , the last link you provided doesn't seem to work .

Pointless wast of money.

Whats the point in spending 100 odd million sticking that thing in orbit
When you could devote 100% of your time and resources building up a space intrastructue that makes space travel cheaper, safer and easier? After thats done THEN do these projects as not only will the cost be magnitudes lower but weight restrictions will be more flexabke allowing even bigger better probs and telescopes we can only dream off that would have a lot longer usefull life.

reply to post by Thebel


Ah, so it has been launched? I knew it was today but didn't realize a successful launch had taken place. Yay! This will provide some very good data.

EDIT: Yep, here's The Guardian article as well (I don't always click on links, and a news story is linked in the OP also):

www.theguardian.com...

Ah, this is interesting, I can't copy from The Guardian source (someone else give it a try and see if it's the source itself, has someone figured out a way to make things uncopiable?)

From the OP's source:

The observatory's exceptional sensitivity may also detect many thousands of previously unseen celestial objects, including new planets and asteroids.

As many as 50,000 planets outside our solar system could be spotted during the satellite's five-year life.

reply to post by Thebel


Very cool--it will be interesting to see what findings come from this.

BTW ancient alien astronaut theorists believe that the artists illustration in the OP is proof for the existence of alien visitation of Earth.

reply to post by Thebel


It tracks 1 billion stars - 1% of the stars in the Milky Way, that is 1 of the trillion galaxies of the universe! .,. We'll get there, lol... Not saying this isn't important as every step counts, but it`s funny when we think on how big is the universe vs what we know about it

reply to post by Thebel


Absolutely LOVE the logo that was on the capsule:



Go ESA! It will be interesting to see the comparison of data from their earlier satellite, Hipparcos.

Always thrilled to see science being done.

Found video about Gaia

Launch video

reply to post by crazyewok


I wouldnt say its a waste of money at all...I guess anyone can argue mismanagement or resources though. Have you ever seen that project that were looking at doing...I think it was NASA but it was an elevator basically to space that would save so much money as you wouldnt have to launch things...I always thought that would be cool if it could be pulled off. Basically would be an object tethered to earth with the other end in orbit. Im just happy that money is going to science as opposed to some other bs. I wish in general we spent more on science.

crazyewok
Pointless wast of money.

Whats the point in spending 100 odd million sticking that thing in orbit
When you could devote 100% of your time and resources building up a space intrastructue that makes space travel cheaper, safer and easier? After thats done THEN do these projects as not only will the cost be magnitudes lower but weight restrictions will be more flexabke allowing even bigger better probs and telescopes we can only dream off that would have a lot longer usefull life.

edit on 19-12-2013 by crazyewok because: (no reason given)

Completely disagree, sorry. Where would you be traveling in space if you had no clue where anything is? Considering inter-stellar travel will more then likely involve some sort of high-speed travel (whether FTL or warp drive-ish type travel), I'd think that having an accurate depiction of your surroundings would not only be a good idea, but required in order to navigate safely and efficiently. Seems like a knee-jerk reaction to me, but that's just my opinion.

crazyewok
Pointless wast of money.

Whats the point in spending 100 odd million sticking that thing in orbit
When you could devote 100% of your time and resources building up a space intrastructue that makes space travel cheaper, safer and easier? After thats done THEN do these projects as not only will the cost be magnitudes lower but weight restrictions will be more flexabke allowing even bigger better probs and telescopes we can only dream off that would have a lot longer usefull life.

edit on 19-12-2013 by crazyewok because: (no reason given)

I'm sorry, but that is extremely ignorant to say. Gaia's predecessor, Hipparcos, is the basis for all modern astrometry. I use the Tycho-2 dataset almost daily as an amateur astronomer. Hipparcos used old photomultiplier technology, Gaia will use modern CCD technology to achieve better accuracy and sensitivity. The scientific benefits are enormous and touch many different fields within astronomy. Gaia will make Hippcaros, Tycho, and even UCAC obsolete for stars at mag>6 and it will also go to dimmer magnitudes than UCAC.
hal.inria.fr...
www.astro.ku.dk...
www.astro.lu.se...
It is ANYTHING but a "pointless waste of money," the data it produces will be useful to countless astronomers all over the globe, even amateurs like me.

parad0x122
Where would you be traveling in space if you had no clue where anything is?

This was for looking a star beyond our reach! So your argument fails, sorry. If it had been for looking at possibe landing sites on mars or the moon or a probe to catalog the resources on near earth objects you would have a point. But its not its for looking at stars we wont be even getting near for the next few hundred years. We have time to delay the project 5-10 years while we set up more important things in space and after that not only could you still do the porject but at a fraction of the price and way better.

parad0x122
Considering inter-stellar travel will more then likely involve some sort of high-speed travel (whether FTL or warp drive-ish type travel), I'd think that having an accurate depiction of your surroundings would not only be a good idea, but required in order to navigate safely and efficiently.

And we wont have anything close instersteller capability s to that at least for hundred years!
We need to focus on mastering our own solar system first!
Infact we have to master our solar system first just to get the resources for intersteller travel.
You want to run a marathon before you can even sit up!

parad0x122
Seems like a knee-jerk reaction to me, but that's just my opinion.

Actually seeing as my reaction is based on cold hard logic, realistic expectaions and a sound plan and yours is based on what is a currently pipe dream of instetller travel I think yours is the knee jerk reaction

DP

crazyewok
Pointless wast of money.

Whats the point in spending 100 odd million sticking that thing in orbit
When you could devote 100% of your time and resources building up a space intrastructue that makes space travel cheaper, safer and easier? After thats done THEN do these projects as not only will the cost be magnitudes lower but weight restrictions will be more flexabke allowing even bigger better probs and telescopes we can only dream off that would have a lot longer usefull life.

edit on 19-12-2013 by crazyewok because: (no reason given)

Its not a pointless waste of money if you want astronomy to move forward.

There are instruments being built or on the drawing board that need the type of accurate stellar position data that GAIA will provide.

BTW: One of them is called the James Webb Space Telescope...

You have to see this as a process to solve a jigsaw puzzle.

This is a vital piece which other instruments and observations will rely on just as Kepler scientists relied on data from the satellite GAIA replaces, Hipparcos.

Space infrastructure of the type you want costs far more than astronomy by a factor of 100 to 1000 depending on what you are talking about.

Your alternative would be that we'd wait around until there was political will to spend large Apollo program like sums of money on space infrastructure, while space science twiddled its thumbs.

crazyewok
Pointless wast of money.

Whats the point in spending 100 odd million sticking that thing in orbit
When you could devote 100% of your time and resources building up a space intrastructue that makes space travel cheaper, safer and easier? After thats done THEN do these projects as not only will the cost be magnitudes lower but weight restrictions will be more flexabke allowing even bigger better probs and telescopes we can only dream off that would have a lot longer usefull life.

edit on 19-12-2013 by crazyewok because: (no reason given)

For the simple reason WE CANT DO IT look how long it took to build the ISS, these projects are MANY TIMES CHEAPER and QUICKER than what you want simple LOGIC shows you that!!!

ngchunter

crazyewok
Pointless wast of money.

Whats the point in spending 100 odd million sticking that thing in orbit
When you could devote 100% of your time and resources building up a space intrastructue that makes space travel cheaper, safer and easier? After thats done THEN do these projects as not only will the cost be magnitudes lower but weight restrictions will be more flexabke allowing even bigger better probs and telescopes we can only dream off that would have a lot longer usefull life.

edit on 19-12-2013 by crazyewok because: (no reason given)

I'm sorry, but that is extremely ignorant to say. Gaia's predecessor, Hipparcos, is the basis for all modern astrometry. I use the Tycho-2 dataset almost daily as an amateur astronomer. Hipparcos used old photomultiplier technology, Gaia will use modern CCD technology to achieve better accuracy and sensitivity. The scientific benefits are enormous and touch many different fields within astronomy. Gaia will make Hippcaros, Tycho, and even UCAC obsolete for stars at mag>6 and it will also go to dimmer magnitudes than UCAC.
hal.inria.fr...
www.astro.ku.dk...
www.astro.lu.se...
It is ANYTHING but a "pointless waste of money," the data it produces will be useful to countless astronomers all over the globe, even amateurs like me.

Well said. Star for you. It astounds me how people jump to such ignorant conclusions without even understanding the item, instrument or program they call "useless".

It also astounds me that people think there is this huge amount of money that goes into astronomy and astrophysics that should be diverted elsewhere when the mostly useless nuclear weapons programs of most nations suck up far more of the resources that could be used to build his space infrastructure.

Perhaps he should look at that and crack open a book on basic astronomy.

ngchunter

I'm sorry, but that is extremely ignorant to say.

Depends what your prioritys are doesnt it?

If you want to look at pretty star then fine great.

If you have the opinion like me were I want to see humans move out into the solar system and exploit it resources then no its not much good.

I have a reason to my opinion. Hardly ignorant. Diffrent goals yeas, ignorant? no.

ngchunter
It is ANYTHING but a "pointless waste of money," the data it produces will be useful to countless astronomers all over the globe, even amateurs like me.

And if you waited 10 years and let that money go into space INTRASTRUCTURE then you could of got a bigger better program at the fraction of a price.

Thats the problem with space exploration and explotation. There is little to no intrastructure, hence why we are still useing inefficant chem rockets that are so bloody expensive.

crazyewok

ngchunter

I'm sorry, but that is extremely ignorant to say.

Depends what your prioritys are doesnt it?

If you want to look at pretty star then fine great.

If you have the opinion like me were I want to see humans move out into the solar system and exploit it resources then no its not much good.

I have a reason to my opinion. Hardly ignorant. Diffrent goals yeas, ignorant? no.

ngchunter
It is ANYTHING but a "pointless waste of money," the data it produces will be useful to countless astronomers all over the globe, even amateurs like me.

And if you waited 10 years and let that money go into space INTRASTRUCTURE then you could of got a bigger better program at the fraction of a price.

Thats the problem with space exploration and explotation. There is little to no intrastructure, hence why we are still useing inefficant chem rockets that are so bloody expensive.

Where is the political will to spend money on infrastructure that would cost 1000 times what astronomy and astrophysics going to come from?

You know, people like you succeeded in getting everyone to wait after Apollo in the 1970s and very little was done.

That great space infrastructure we were supposed to have by 1985 never materialized. All we got was a space shuttle.

I'll put it to you another way....

If you pour money into astronomy and astrobiology specifically we stand a good chance of discovering other life, perhaps even another civilization.

Once that happens THEN you will have the political will to spend money on major space infrastructure projects at Apollo-like levels of percentage of GDP.

Everyone will want to learn more about what's out there. Not just us space geeks.

You basically have the problem in reverse. The money has to come from somewhere for what you want. Without a major discovery or two to drive it then its a case of "No bucks, no Buck Rogers", just like the 1970s.

And contrary to what you believe, there is research into alternatives in getting into space than chemical rockets. You are just unaware of it.

JadeStar



Well said. Star for you. It astounds me how people jump to such ignorant conclusions without even understanding the item, instrument or program they call "useless".

DAMED IF ITS IGNORANT!!! Diffrent Goal YES! Ignorant NO! I have a sound logic to my opinion.
Space Infrastuture first, deep space exploration second. Hardly unreasonable!

JadeStar
It also astounds me that people think there is this huge amount of money that goes into astronomy and astrophysics that should be diverted elsewhere when the mostly uselss weapons programs of most nations suck up far more of the resources that could be used to build his space infrastructure.

And you should think before you speak. Beacuse Im all in favour of diverting a few 10's of billions from military into space based programs. Infact I say it over and over again on ATS only to be meet by the ignorant laughs of rednecks, if you want to look for ignorance look there!

JadeStar
Perhaps he should look at that.

Read above. Im also a realilist. Unfortunatly space programs are not getting the needed funding, its a sad fact but a fact none the less, so the money they do get should be used to the best it can and the most usefull thing we need now is a good space infrastructure. Once thats up we can get some amazings done, things that could rekindle the old intrest it once had and also makeing it profitable for private ventures to poor money in giving even more resources.

JadeStar
[

You know, people like you succeeded in getting everyone to wait after Apollo in the 1970s and very little was done.

People like me? Dont you DARE put words and opinions into MY mouth, DONT YOU DARE!

I would have been 10000000% behind continueing the apollo program up to a moon base.

Hell I would have gone staight to orion project and we would have colonies on the moon of satern by now.

People like ME would have got you far further than the crap we have now.

JadeStar
[
That great space infrastructure we were supposed to have by 1985 never materialized. All we got was a space shuttle.

Yup another white elefant and useless piece of crap.