Gaia | Common News Update

Aug42020 by adminNo Comments

James Lovelock: Gaia theory creator on coronavirus and turning 101

Science

James Lovelock, one of Britain’s greatest scientists, is famous for developing the Gaia hypothesis, which sees the Earth as a self-regulating system.In his long and influential career, he also revealed the chemicals that were destroying the ozone layer.He’s just celebrated his 101st birthday and the BBC's chief environment correspondent Justin Rowlatt visited him at his home in Dorset.Let's block ads! (Why?) BBC News - Science & Environment

Feb112019 by adminNo Comments

Astronomers use Gaia data to model Milky Way-Andromeda collision

Science

Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Scientists have long suspected that the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are on a collision course, but now, thanks to new data from the European Space Agency's Gaia satellite, researchers finally know how fast and at what angles the two galactic bodies are approaching impact. The Milky Way and Andromeda, along with the smaller Triangulum, are the three biggest galaxies in the Local Group, a collection of more than 54 galaxies -- most of them dwarf galaxies. While scientists think all 54 members are organized by their gravitational influence on one another, the positioning and trajectories of Local Group members isn't well understood. "We needed to explore the galaxies' motions in 3D to uncover how they have grown and evolved, and what creates and influences their features...

Jul122018 by adminNo Comments

Hubble, Gaia produce most precise measure of universe's expansion rate

Science

July 12 (UPI) -- By combining the observations of the two most powerful space telescopes in orbit, scientists have achieved the most precise measurement of the Hubble constant, the universe's expansion rate. The new measurement confirms the tension between explosion rate in the early and late universe, researchers report. Astronomers can measure the expansion of the universe by measuring a galaxy's redshift, a change in the wavelength of the light due to a change in the velocity of the object. By measuring the redshift of galaxies using the Hubble Telescope, scientists have established the Hubble constant. But investigations of the cosmic microwave background, the oldest radiation in the universe, can also be used to predict the universe's expansion rate. Maps of the microwave signature ...

Apr252018 by adminNo Comments

Gaia telescope's 'book of the heavens' takes shape

Science

The Gaia observatory has released a second swathe of data as it assembles the most precise map of the sky. The European Space Agency telescope has now plotted the position and brightness of nearly 1.7 billion stars. It also has information on the distance, motion and colour of 1.3 billion of these objects. Gaia's "book of the heavens" will not be complete until the 2020s, but when it is the map will underpin astronomy for decades to come. It will be the reference frame used to plan all observations by other telescopes. It will also be integral to the operation of all spacecraft, which navigate by tracking stars. But beyond that, Gaia promises a raft of new discoveries about the properties and structure of our Milky Way Galaxy, its history and evolution into the future. It will enable scien...