| 1. |
- Prusti, T., et al.
(författare)
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The Gaia mission
- 2016
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 595
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Gaia is a cornerstone mission in the science programme of the European Space Agency (ESA). The spacecraft construction was approved in 2006, following a study in which the original interferometric concept was changed to a direct-imaging approach. Both the spacecraft and the payload were built by European industry. The involvement of the scientific community focusses on data processing for which the international Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC) was selected in 2007. Gaia was launched on 19 December 2013 and arrived at its operating point, the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth-Moon system, a few weeks later. The commissioning of the spacecraft and payload was completed on 19 July 2014. The nominal five-year mission started with four weeks of special, ecliptic-pole scanning and subsequently transferred into full-sky scanning mode. We recall the scientific goals of Gaia and give a description of the as-built spacecraft that is currently (mid-2016) being operated to achieve these goals. We pay special attention to the payload module, the performance of which is closely related to the scientific performance of the mission. We provide a summary of the commissioning activities and findings, followed by a description of the routine operational mode. We summarise scientific performance estimates on the basis of in-orbit operations. Several intermediate Gaia data releases are planned and the data can be retrieved from the Gaia Archive, which is available through the Gaia home page.
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| 2. |
- Brown, A. G. A., et al.
(författare)
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Gaia Data Release 1 Summary of the astrometric, photometric, and survey properties
- 2016
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 595
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. At about 1000 days after the launch of Gaia we present the first Gaia data release, Gaia DR1, consisting of astrometry and photometry for over 1 billion sources brighter than magnitude 20.7. Aims. A summary of Gaia DR1 is presented along with illustrations of the scientific quality of the data, followed by a discussion of the limitations due to the preliminary nature of this release. Methods. The raw data collected by Gaia during the first 14 months of the mission have been processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC) and turned into an astrometric and photometric catalogue. Results. Gaia DR1 consists of three components: a primary astrometric data set which contains the positions, parallaxes, and mean proper motions for about 2 million of the brightest stars in common with the HIPPARCOS and Tycho-2 catalogues - a realisation of the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS) - and a secondary astrometric data set containing the positions for an additional 1.1 billion sources. The second component is the photometric data set, consisting of mean G-band magnitudes for all sources. The G-band light curves and the characteristics of similar to 3000 Cepheid and RR Lyrae stars, observed at high cadence around the south ecliptic pole, form the third component. For the primary astrometric data set the typical uncertainty is about 0.3 mas for the positions and parallaxes, and about 1 mas yr(-1) for the proper motions. A systematic component of similar to 0.3 mas should be added to the parallax uncertainties. For the subset of similar to 94 000 HIPPARCOS stars in the primary data set, the proper motions are much more precise at about 0.06 mas yr(-1). For the secondary astrometric data set, the typical uncertainty of the positions is similar to 10 mas. The median uncertainties on the mean G-band magnitudes range from the mmag level to similar to 0.03 mag over the magnitude range 5 to 20.7. Conclusions. Gaia DR1 is an important milestone ahead of the next Gaia data release, which will feature five-parameter astrometry for all sources. Extensive validation shows that Gaia DR1 represents a major advance in the mapping of the heavens and the availability of basic stellar data that underpin observational astrophysics. Nevertheless, the very preliminary nature of this first Gaia data release does lead to a number of important limitations to the data quality which should be carefully considered before drawing conclusions from the data.
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| 3. |
- Clementini, G., et al.
(författare)
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Testing parallaxes with local Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars
- 2017
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 605
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. Parallaxes for 331 classical Cepheids, 31 Type II Cepheids, and 364 RR Lyrae stars in common between Gaia and the HIPPARCOS and Tycho-2 catalogues are published in Gaia Data Release 1 (DR1) as part of the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS). Aims. In order to test these first parallax measurements of the primary standard candles of the cosmological distance ladder, which involve astrometry collected by Gaia during the initial 14 months of science operation, we compared them with literature estimates and derived new period-luminosity (PL), period-Wesenheit (PW) relations for classical and Type II Cepheids and infrared PL, PL-metallicity (PLZ), and optical luminosity-metallicity (MV-[Fe/H]) relations for the RR Lyrae stars, with zero points based on TGAS.Methods. Classical Cepheids were carefully selected in order to discard known or suspected binary systems. The final sample comprises 102 fundamental mode pulsators with periods ranging from 1.68 to 51.66 days (of which 33 with sigma(omega)/omega < 0 : 5). The Type II Cepheids include a total of 26 W Virginis and BL Herculis stars spanning the period range from 1.16 to 30.00 days (of which only 7 with sigma(omega)/omega 0 : 5). The RR Lyrae stars include 200 sources with pulsation period ranging from 0.27 to 0.80 days (of which 112 with sigma(omega)/omega < 0 : 5). The new relations were computed using multi- band (V; I; J; K-s) photometry and spectroscopic metal abundances available in the literature, and by applying three alternative approaches: (i) linear least-squares fitting of the absolute magnitudes inferred from direct transformation of the TGAS parallaxes; (ii) adopting astrometry-based luminosities; and (iii) using a Bayesian fitting approach. The last two methods work in parallax space where parallaxes are used directly, thus maintaining symmetrical errors and allowing negative parallaxes to be used. The TGAS-based PL; PW; PLZ, and MV [Fe/H] relations are discussed by comparing the distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud provided by different types of pulsating stars and alternative fitting methods.Results. Good agreement is found from direct comparison of the parallaxes of RR Lyrae stars for which both TGAS and HST measurements are available. Similarly, very good agreement is found between the TGAS values and the parallaxes inferred from the absolute magnitudes of Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars analysed with the Baade-Wesselink method. TGAS values also compare favourably with the parallaxes inferred by theoretical model fitting of the multi-band light curves for two of the three classical Cepheids and one RR Lyrae star, which were analysed with this technique in our samples. The K-band PL relations show the significant improvement of the TGAS parallaxes for Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars with respect to the HIPPARCOS measurements. This is particularly true for the RR Lyrae stars for which improvement in quality and statistics is impressive.Conclusions. TGAS parallaxes bring a significant added value to the previous HIPPARCOS estimates. The relations presented in this paper represent the first Gaia-calibrated relations and form a work-in-progress milestone report in the wait for Gaia-only parallaxes of which a first solution will become available with Gaia Data Release 2 (DR2) in 2018.
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| 4. |
- van Leeuwen, F., et al.
(författare)
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Gaia Data Release 1 : Open cluster astrometry: Performance, limitations, and future prospects
- 2017
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 601
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. The first Gaia Data Release contains the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS). This is a subset of about 2 million stars for which, besides the position and photometry, the proper motion and parallax are calculated using Hipparcos and Tycho-2 positions in 1991.25 as prior information. Aims. We investigate the scientific potential and limitations of the TGAS component by means of the astrometric data for open clusters. Methods. Mean cluster parallax and proper motion values are derived taking into account the error correlations within the astrometric solutions for individual stars, an estimate of the internal velocity dispersion in the cluster, and, where relevant, the effects of the depth of the cluster along the line of sight. Internal consistency of the TGAS data is assessed. Results. Values given for standard uncertainties are still inaccurate and may lead to unrealistic unit-weight standard deviations of least squares solutions for cluster parameters. Reconstructed mean cluster parallax and proper motion values are generally in very good agreement with earlier Hipparcos-based determination, although the Gaia mean parallax for the Pleiades is a significant exception. We have no current explanation for that discrepancy. Most clusters are observed to extend to nearly 15 pc from the cluster centre, and it will be up to future Gaia releases to establish whether those potential cluster-member stars are still dynamically bound to the clusters. Conclusions. The Gaia DR1 provides the means to examine open clusters far beyond their more easily visible cores, and can provide membership assessments based on proper motions and parallaxes. A combined HR diagram shows the same features as observed before using the Hipparcos data, with clearly increased luminosities for older A and F dwarfs.
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| 5. |
- Recio-Blanco, A., et al.
(författare)
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Gaia Data Release 3: Chemical cartography of the Milky Way
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 674
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. The motion of stars has been used to reveal details of the complex history of the Milky Way, in constant interaction with its environment. Nevertheless, to reconstruct the Galactic history puzzle in its entirety, the chemo-physical characterisation of stars is essential. Previous Gaia data releases were supported by a smaller, heterogeneous, and spatially biased mixture of chemical data from ground-based observations.Aims. Gaia Data Release 3 opens a new era of all-sky spectral analysis of stellar populations thanks to the nearly 5.6 million stars observed by the Radial Velocity Spectrometer (RVS) and parametrised by the GSP-Spec module. In this work, we aim to demonstrate the scientific quality of Gaia s Milky Way chemical cartography through a chemo-dynamical analysis of disc and halo populations.Methods. Stellar atmospheric parameters and chemical abundances provided by Gaia DR3 spectroscopy are combined with DR3 radial velocities and EDR3 astrometry to analyse the relationships between chemistry and Milky Way structure, stellar kinematics, and orbital parameters.Results. The all-sky Gaia chemical cartography allows a powerful and precise chemo-dynamical view of the Milky Way with unprecedented spatial coverage and statistical robustness. First, it reveals the strong vertical symmetry of the Galaxy and the flared structure of the disc. Second, the observed kinematic disturbances of the disc seen as phase space correlations and kinematic or orbital substructures are associated with chemical patterns that favour stars with enhanced metallicities and lower [α/Fe] abundance ratios compared to the median values in the radial distributions. This is detected both for young objects that trace the spiral arms and older populations. Several α, iron-peak elements and at least one heavy element trace the thin and thick disc properties in the solar cylinder. Third, young disc stars show a recent chemical impoverishment in several elements. Fourth, the largest chemo-dynamical sample of open clusters analysed so far shows a steepening of the radial metallicity gradient with age, which is also observed in the young field population. Finally, the Gaia chemical data have the required coverage and precision to unveil galaxy accretion debris and heated disc stars on halo orbits through their [α/Fe] ratio, and to allow the study of the chemo-dynamical properties of globular clusters. Conclusions. Gaia DR3 chemo-dynamical diagnostics open new horizons before the era of ground-based wide-field spectroscopic surveys. They unveil a complex Milky Way that is the outcome of an eventful evolution, shaping it to the present day.
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| 6. |
- Andrae, R., et al.
(författare)
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Gaia Data Release 3 : Analysis of the Gaia BP/RP spectra using the General Stellar Parameterizer from Photometry
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 674
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context: The astrophysical characterisation of sources is among the major new data products in the third Gaia Data Release (DR3). In particular, there are stellar parameters for 471 million sources estimated from low-resolution BP /RP spectra.Aims: We present the General Stellar Parameterizer from Photometry (GSP-Phot), which is part of the astrophysical parameters inference system (Apsis). GSP-Phot is designed to produce a homogeneous catalogue of parameters for hundreds of millions of single non-variable stars based on their astrometry, photometry, and low-resolution BP/RP spectra. These parameters are effective temperature, surface gravity, metallicity, absolute MG magnitude, radius, distance, and extinction for each star.Methods: GSP-Phot uses a Bayesian forward-modelling approach to simultaneously fit the BP /RP spectrum, parallax, and apparent G magnitude. A major design feature of GSP-Phot is the use of the apparent flux levels of BP /RP spectra to derive, in combination with isochrone models, tight observational constraints on radii and distances. We carefully validate the uncertainty estimates by exploiting repeat Gaia observations of the same source.Results: The data release includes GSP-Phot results for 471 million sources with G < 19. Typical differences to literature values are 110K for T-eff and 0.2-0.25 for log g, but these depend strongly on data quality. In particular, GSP-Phot results are significantly better for stars with good parallax measurements (pi/sigma(pi) > 20), mostly within 2 kpc. Metallicity estimates exhibit substantial biases compared to literature values and are only useful at a qualitative level. However, we provide an empirical calibration of our metallicity estimates that largely removes these biases. Extinctions A(0) and A(BP) show typical di fferences from reference values of 0.07-0.09 mag. MCMC samples of the parameters are also available for 95% of the sources.Conclusions: GSP-Phot provides a homogeneous catalogue of stellar parameters, distances, and extinctions that can be used for various purposes, such as sample selections (OB stars, red giants, solar analogues etc.). In the context of asteroseismology or ground-based interferometry, where targets are usually bright and have good parallax measurements, GSP-Phot results should be particularly useful for combined analysis or target selection.
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| 7. |
- Creevey, O. L., et al.
(författare)
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Gaia Data Release 3 : Astrophysical parameters inference system (Apsis). I. Methods and content overview
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 674
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Gaia Data Release 3 contains a wealth of new data products for the community. Astrophysical parameters are a major component of this release, and were produced by the Astrophysical parameters inference system (Apsis) within the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC). The aim of this paper is to describe the overall content of the astrophysical parameters in Gaia DR3 and how they were produced. In Apsis, we use the mean BP /RP and mean RVS spectra along with astrometry and photometry, and we derive the following parameters: source classification and probabilities for 1.6 billion objects; interstellar medium characterisation and distances for up to 470 million sources, including a 2D total Galactic extinction map; 6 million redshifts of quasar candidates; 1.4 million redshifts of galaxy candidates; and an analysis of 50 million outlier sources through an unsupervised classification. The astrophysical parameters also include many stellar spectroscopic and evolutionary parameters for up to 470 million sources. These comprise T-eff, log g, and [M /H] (470 million using BP /RP, 6 million using RVS), radius (470 million), mass (140 million), age (120 million), chemical abundances (up to 5 million), diffuse interstellar band analysis (0.5 million), activity indices (2 million), H ff equivalent widths (200 million), and further classification of spectral types (220 million) and emission-line stars (50 000). This paper is the first in a series of three papers, and focusses on describing the global content of the parameters in Gaia DR3. The accompanying Papers II and III focus on the validation and use of the stellar and non-stellar products, respectively. This catalogue is the most extensive homogeneous database of astrophysical parameters to date, and is based uniquely on Gaia data. It will only be superseded by Gaia Data Release 4, and will therefore remain a key reference over the next four years, providing astrophysical parameters independent of other ground- and space-based data.
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| 8. |
- Delchambre, L., et al.
(författare)
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Apsis. III. Non-stellar content and source classification
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 674
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context: As part of the third Gaia Data Release, we present the contributions of the non-stellar and classification modules from the eighth coordination unit (CU8) of the Data Processing and Analysis Consortium, which is responsible for the determination of source astrophysical parameters using Gaia data. This is the third in a series of three papers describing the work done within CU8 for this release.Aims: For each of the five relevant modules from CU8, we summarise their objectives, the methods they employ, their performance, and the results they produce for Gaia DR3. We further advise how to use these data products and highlight some limitations.Methods: The Discrete Source Classifier (DSC) module provides classification probabilities associated with five types of sources: quasars, galaxies, stars, white dwarfs, and physical binary stars. A subset of these sources are processed by the Outlier Analysis (OA) module, which performs an unsupervised clustering analysis, and then associates labels with the clusters to complement the DSC classification. The Quasi Stellar Object Classifier (QSOC) and the Unresolved Galaxy Classifier (UGC) determine the redshifts of the sources classified as quasar and galaxy by the DSC module. Finally, the Total Galactic Extinction (TGE) module uses the extinctions of individual stars determined by another CU8 module to determine the asymptotic extinction along all lines of sight for Galactic latitudes |b| > 5 degrees.Results: Gaia DR3 includes 1591 million sources with DSC classifications; 56 million sources to which the OA clustering is applied; 1.4 million sources with redshift estimates from UGC; 6.4 million sources with QSOC redshift; and 3.1 million level 9 HEALPixes of size 0 :013 deg(2) where the extinction is evaluated by TGE.Conclusions: Validation shows that results are in good agreement with values from external catalogues; for example 90% of the QSOC redshifts have absolute error lower than 0:1 for sources with empty warning flags, while UGC redshifts have a mean error of 0:008 +/- 0:037 if evaluated on a clean set of spectra. An internal validation of the OA results further shows that 30 million sources are located in high confidence regions of the clustering map.
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| 9. |
- Lanzafame, A. C., et al.
(författare)
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Gaia Data Release 3 : Stellar chromospheric activity and mass accretion from Ca II IRT observed by the Radial Velocity Spectrometer
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 674
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context: The Gaia Radial Velocity Spectrometer (RVS) provides the unique opportunity of a spectroscopic analysis of millions of stars at medium resolution (lambda/Delta lambda similar to 11 500) in the near-infrared (845 872 nm). This wavelength range includes the Ca ii infrared triplet (IRT) at 850.03, 854.44, and 866.45 nm, which is a good indicator of magnetic activity in the chromosphere of late-type stars.Aims: Here we present the method devised for inferring the Gaia stellar activity index from the analysis of the Ca ii IRT in the RVS spectrum, together with its scientific validation.Methods: The Gaia stellar activity index is derived from the Ca ii IRT excess equivalent width with respect to a reference spectrum, taking the projected rotational velocity (v sin i) into account. We performed scientific validation of the Gaia stellar activity index by deriving a R'(IRT) index, which is largely independent of the photospheric parameters, and considering the correlation with the R'(HK) index for a sample of stars. A sample of well-studied pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars is considered to identify the regime in which the Gaia stellar activity index may be a ffected by mass accretion. The position of these stars in the colour-magnitude diagram and the correlation with the amplitude of the photometric rotational modulation is also scrutinised.Results: Gaia DR3 contains a stellar activity index derived from the Ca ii IRT for some 2 x 10(6) stars in the Galaxy. This represents a `gold mine' for studies on stellar magnetic activity and mass accretion in the solar vicinity. Three regimes of the chromospheric stellar activity are identified, confirming suggestions made by previous authors based on much smaller R-HK(') datasets. The highest stellar activity regime is associated with PMS stars and RS CVn systems, in which activity is enhanced by tidal interaction. Some evidence of a bimodal distribution in main sequence (MS) stars with T-eff >= 5000K is also found, which defines the two other regimes, without a clear gap in between. Stars with 3500K. T-e ff <= 5000K are found to be either very active PMS stars or active MS stars with a unimodal distribution in chromospheric activity. A dramatic change in the activity distribution is found for T-e ff <= 3500 K, with a dominance of low activity stars close to the transition between partially- and fully convective stars and a rise in activity down into the fully convective regime.
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| 10. |
- Recio-Blanco, A., et al.
(författare)
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Gaia Data Release 3 : Analysis of RVS spectra using the General Stellar Parametriser from spectroscopy
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 674
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context: The chemo-physical parametrisation of stellar spectra is essential for understanding the nature and evolution of stars and of Galactic stellar populations. A worldwide observational effort from the ground has provided, in one century, an extremely heterogeneous collection of chemical abundances for about two million stars in total, with fragmentary sky coverage.Aims: This situation is revolutionised by the Gaia third data release (DR3), which contains the parametrisation of Radial Velocity Spectrometer (RVS) data performed by the General Stellar Parametriser-spectroscopy, GSP-Spec, module. Here we describe the parametrisation of the first 34 months of Gaia RVS observations.Methods: GSP-Spec estimates the chemo-physical parameters from combined RVS spectra of single stars, without additional inputs from astrometric, photometric, or spectro-photometric BP /RP data. The main analysis workflow described here, MatisseGauguin, is based on projection and optimisation methods and provides the stellar atmospheric parameters; the individual chemical abundances of N, Mg, Si, S, Ca, Ti, Cr, Fe i, Fe ii, Ni, Zr, Ce and Nd; the di fferential equivalent width of a cyanogen line; and the parameters of a di ffuse interstellar band (DIB) feature. Another workflow, based on an artificial neural network (ANN) and referred to with the same acronym, provides a second set of atmospheric parameters that are useful for classification control. For both workflows, we implement a detailed quality flag chain considering different error sources.Results: With about 5.6 million stars, the Gaia DR3 GSP-Spec all-sky catalogue is the largest compilation of stellar chemo-physical parameters ever published and the first one from space data. Internal and external biases have been studied taking into account the implemented flags. In some cases, simple calibrations with low degree polynomials are suggested. The homogeneity and quality of the estimated parameters enables chemo-dynamical studies of Galactic stellar populations, interstellar extinction studies from individual spectra, and clear constraints on stellar evolution models. We highly recommend that users adopt the provided quality flags for scientific exploitation.Conclusions: The Gaia DR3 GSP-Spec catalogue is a major step in the scientific exploration of Milky Way stellar populations. It will be followed by increasingly large and higher quality catalogues in future data releases, confirming the Gaia promise of a new Galactic vision.
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