Gaia: 3-dimensional census of the Milky Way Galaxy

Abstract

Astrometry from space has unique advantages over ground-based observations: the all-sky coverage, relatively stable, and temperature and gravity invariant operating environment delivers precision, accuracy and sample volume several orders of magnitude greater than ground-based results. Even more importantly, absolute astrometry is possible. The European Space Agency Cornerstone mission Gaia is delivering that promise. Gaia provides 5-D phase space measurements - 3 spatial coordinates and two space motions in the plane of the sky - for a representative sample of the Milky way's stellar populations, including over two billion stars, being about one percent of the stars over about 50 percent of the radius. Full 6-D phase space data is delivered from Gaia's line-of-sight (radial) velocities for the 300 million brightest stars. These data make substantial contributions to astrophysics and fundamental physics on scales from the Solar System to cosmology. A knowledge revolution is underway.