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Aims. We produce a clean and well-characterised catalogue of objects within 100 pc of the Sun from the Gaia Early Data Release 3. We characterise the catalogue through comparisons to the full data release, external catalogues, and simulations. We carry out a first analysis of the science that is possible with this sample to demonstrate its potential and best practices for its use., Methods. Theselection of objects within 100 pc from the full catalogue used selected training sets, machine-learning procedures, astrometric quantities, and solution quality indicators to determine a probability that the astrometric solution is reliable. The training set construction exploited the astrometric data, quality flags, and external photometry. For all candidates we calculated distance posterior probability densities using Bayesian procedures and mock catalogues to define priors. Any object with reliable astrometry and a non-zero probability of being within 100 pc is included in the catalogue., Results. We have produced a catalogue of 331 312 objects that we estimate contains at least 92% of stars of stellar type M9 within 100 pc of the Sun. We estimate that 9% of the stars in this catalogue probably lie outside 100 pc, but when the distance probability function is used, a correct treatment of this contamination is possible. We produced luminosity functions with a high signal-to-noise ratio for the main-sequence stars, giants, and white dwarfs. We examined in detail the Hyades cluster, the white dwarf population, and wide-binary systems and produced candidate lists for all three samples. We detected local manifestations of several streams, superclusters, and halo objects, in which we identified 12 members of Gaia Enceladus. We present the first direct parallaxes of five objects in multiple systems within 10 pc of the Sun., Conclusions. We provide the community with a large, well-characterised catalogue of objects in the solar neighbourhood. This is a primary benchmark for measuring and understanding fundamental parameters and descriptive functions in astronomy.

Hobbs, David, et al., The era of all-sky space astrometry began with the Hipparcos mission in 1989 and provided the first very accurate catalogue of apparent magnitudes, positions, parallaxes and proper motions of 120 000 bright stars at the milliarcsec (or milliarcsec per year) accuracy level. Hipparcos has now been superseded by the results of the Gaia mission. The second Gaia data release contained astrometric data for almost 1.7 billion sources with tens of microarcsec (or microarcsec per year) accuracy in a vast volume of the Milky Way and future data releases will further improve on this. Gaia has just completed its nominal 5-year mission (July 2019), but is expected to continue in operations for an extended period of an additional 5 years through to mid 2024. Its final catalogue to be released ∼ 2027, will provide astrometry for ∼ 2 billion sources, with astrometric precisions reaching 10 microarcsec. Why is accurate astrometry so important? The answer is that it provides fundamental data which underpin much of modern observational astronomy as will be detailed in this White Paper. All-sky visible and Near-InfraRed (NIR) astrometry with a wavelength cutoff in the K-band is not just focused on a single or small number of key science cases. Instead, it is extremely broad, answering key science questions in nearly every branch of astronomy while also providing a dense and accurate visible-NIR reference frame needed for future astronomy facilities., Open access funding provided by Lund University.

Estimating age distributions, or star formation histories, of stellar populations in the Milky Way is important in order to study the evolution of trends in elemental abundances and kinematics. We build on previous work to develop an algorithm for estimating the age-metallicity distribution which uses the full age-metallicity probability density functions (PDFs) of individual stars. No assumptions are made about the shape of the underlying distribution, and the only free parameter of the algorithm is used to ensure a smooth solution. In this work we use individual age-metallicity PDFs from isochrone fitting of stars with known metallicities. The method is tested with synthetic samples and is found to recover the input age-metallicity distribution more accurately than the distribution of individually estimated ages and metallicities. The recovered sample age distribution is always more accurate than the distribution of individual ages, also when restricted to the most precise individual ages. By applying the method to the stars in the Geneva-Copenhagen survey, we detect a possible minimum in the star formation history of the Solar neighbourhood at an age of 10 Gyr which is not seen in the distribution of individual ages. Although we apply the method only to age-metallicity distributions, the algorithm is described more generally and can in principle be applied in other parameter spaces. It is also not restricted to individual parameter distributions from isochrone fitting, meaning that a sample age distribution can be estimated based on individual age PDFs from other methods such as asteroseismology or gyrochronology., 20 pages, 16 figures. To be published in MNRAS. An implementation of the algorithm can be found at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3941733

Aims. We aim to demonstrate the scientific potential of the Gaia Early Data Release 3 (EDR3) for the study of different aspects of the Milky Way structure and evolution and we provide, at the same time, a description of several practical aspects of the data and examples of their usage., Methods. We used astrometric positions, proper motions, parallaxes, and photometry from EDR3 to select different populations and components and to calculate the distances and velocities in the direction of the anticentre. In this direction, the Gaia astrometric data alone enable the calculation of the vertical and azimuthal velocities; also, the extinction is relatively low compared to other directions in the Galactic plane. We then explore the disturbances of the current disc, the spatial and kinematical distributions of early accreted versus in situ stars, the structures in the outer parts of the disc, and the orbits of open clusters Berkeley 29 and Saurer 1., Results. With the improved astrometry and photometry of EDR3, we find that: (i) the dynamics of the Galactic disc are very complex with oscillations in the median rotation and vertical velocities as a function of radius, vertical asymmetries, and new correlations, including a bimodality with disc stars with large angular momentum moving vertically upwards from below the plane, and disc stars with slightly lower angular momentum moving preferentially downwards; (ii) we resolve the kinematic substructure (diagonal ridges) in the outer parts of the disc for the first time; (iii) the red sequence that has been associated with the proto-Galactic disc that was present at the time of the merger with Gaia-Enceladus-Sausage is currently radially concentrated up to around 14 kpc, while the blue sequence that has been associated with debris of the satellite extends beyond that; (iv) there are density structures in the outer disc, both above and below the plane, most probably related to Monoceros, the Anticentre Stream, and TriAnd, for which the Gaia data allow an exhaustive selection of candidate member stars and dynamical study; and (v) the open clusters Berkeley 29 and Saurer 1, despite being located at large distances from the Galactic centre, are on nearly circular disc-like orbits., Conclusions. Even with our simple preliminary exploration of the Gaia EDR3, we demonstrate how, once again, these data from the European Space Agency are crucial for our understanding of the different pieces of our Galaxy and their connection to its global structure and history.

Under certain conditions, stellar radial velocities can be determined from astrometry, without any use of spectroscopy. This enables us to identify phenomena, other than the Doppler effect, that are displacing spectral lines. The change of stellar proper motions over time (perspective acceleration) is used to determine radial velocities from accurate astrometric data, which are now available from the Gaia and Hipparcos missions. Positions and proper motions at the epoch of Hipparcos are compared with values propagated back from the epoch of the Gaia Early Data Release 3. This propagation depends on the radial velocity, which obtains its value from an optimal fit assuming uniform space motion relative to the solar system barycentre. For 930 nearby stars we obtain astrometric radial velocities with formal uncertainties better than 100 km/s; for 55 stars the uncertainty is below 10 km/s, and for seven it is below 1 km/s. Most stars that are not components of double or multiple systems show good agreement with available spectroscopic radial velocities. Astrometry offers geometric methods to determine stellar radial velocity, irrespective of complexities in stellar spectra. This enables us to segregate wavelength displacements caused by the radial motion of the stellar centre-of-mass from those induced by other effects, such as gravitational redshifts in white dwarfs., Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables. Compared with the original submission, systematic corrections to the Gaia data have been improved as detailed in Section 3. Resulting changes in Tables 1 and 2 are small and mostly insignificant. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

Gaia DR1 is based on the first 14 months of Gaia's observations. This is not long enough to reliably disentangle the parallax effect from proper motion. For most sources, therefore, only positions and magnitudes are given. Parallaxes and proper motions were nevertheless obtained for about two million of the brighter stars through the Tycho-Gaia astrometric solution (TGAS), combining the Gaia observations with the much earlier Hipparcos and Tycho-2 positions. In this review I focus on some important characteristics and limitations of TGAS, in particular the reference frame, astrometric uncertainties, correlations, and systematic errors.

In the era of large-scale surveys of stars in the Milky Way, stellar ages are crucial for studying the evolution of the Galaxy. But determining ages of field stars is notoriously difficult; therefore, we attempt to determine benchmark ages for the extensively studied Gaia benchmark stars which can be used for validation purposes. By searching the literature for age estimates from different methods and deriving new ages based on Bayesian isochrone fitting, we are able to put reliable limits on the ages of 16 out of the 33 benchmark stars. The giants with well-defined ages are all young, and an expansion of the sample to include older giants with asteroseismic ages would be beneficial. Some of the stars have surface parameters inconsistent with isochrones younger than 16 Gyr. Including $\alpha$-enhancement in the models when relevant resolves some of these cases, but others clearly highlight discrepancies between the models and observations. We test the impact of atomic diffusion on the age estimates by fitting to the actual surface metallicity of the models instead of the initial value and find that the effect is negligible except for a single turn-off star. Finally, we show that our ability to determine isochrone-based ages for large spectroscopic surveys largely mirrors our ability to determine ages for these benchmark stars, except for stars with $\log g \gtrsim 4.4$ dex since their location in the HR diagram is almost age insensitive. Hence, isochrone fitting does not constrain their ages given the typical uncertainties of spectroscopic stellar parameters., Comment: Accepted in MNRAS. 69 pages (18 for main text, 11 for appendix, and 40 for extra figures)

A deep understanding of the Milky Way galaxy, its formation and evolution requires observations of huge numbers of stars. Stellar photometry, therefore, provides an economical method to obtain intrinsic stellar parameters. With the addition of distance information - deriving reliable ages from photometry is a possibility. We have developed a Bayesian method that generates 2D probability maps of a star's age and metallicity from photometry and parallax using isochrones. Our synthetic tests show that including a near-UV passband enables us to break the degeneracy between a star's age and metallicity for certain evolutionary stages. It is possible to find well-constrained ages and metallicities for turn-off and sub-giant stars with colours including a U band and a parallax with uncertainty less than ~20%. Metallicities alone are possible for the main sequence and giant branch. We find good agreement with the literature when we apply our method to the Gaia benchmark stars, particularly for turn-off and young stars. Further tests on the old open cluster NGC 188, however, reveal significant limitations in the stellar isochrones. The ages derived for the cluster stars vary with evolutionary stage, such that turn-off ages disagree with those on the sub-giant branch, and metallicities vary significantly throughout. Furthermore, the parameters vary appreciably depending on which colour combinations are used in the derivation. We identify the causes of these mismatches and show that improvements are needed in the modelling of giant branch stars and in the creation and calibration of synthetic near-UV photometry. Our results warn against applying isochrone fitting indiscriminately. In particular, the uncertainty on the stellar models should be quantitatively taken into account. Further efforts to improve the models will result in significant advancements in our ability to study the Galaxy., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 22 pages, 19 figures (+ 6 pages of appendix). Abstract abridged for the arXiv

Gaia Data Release 1 (Gaia DR1) contains astrometric results for more than 1 billion stars brighter than magnitude 20.7 based on observations collected by the Gaia satellite during the first 14 months of its operational phase. We give a brief overview of the astrometric content of the data release and of the model assumptions, data processing, and validation of the results. For stars in common with the Hipparcos and Tycho-2 catalogues, complete astrometric single-star solutions are obtained by incorporating positional information from the earlier catalogues. For other stars only their positions are obtained by neglecting their proper motions and parallaxes. The results are validated by an analysis of the residuals, through special validation runs, and by comparison with external data. Results. For about two million of the brighter stars (down to magnitude ~11.5) we obtain positions, parallaxes, and proper motions to Hipparcos-type precision or better. For these stars, systematic errors depending e.g. on position and colour are at a level of 0.3 milliarcsecond (mas). For the remaining stars we obtain positions at epoch J2015.0 accurate to ~10 mas. Positions and proper motions are given in a reference frame that is aligned with the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF) to better than 0.1 mas at epoch J2015.0, and non-rotating with respect to ICRF to within 0.03 mas/yr. The Hipparcos reference frame is found to rotate with respect to the Gaia DR1 frame at a rate of 0.24 mas/yr. Based on less than a quarter of the nominal mission length and on very provisional and incomplete calibrations, the quality and completeness of the astrometric data in Gaia DR1 are far from what is expected for the final mission products. The results nevertheless represent a huge improvement in the available fundamental stellar data and practical definition of the optical reference frame., Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

Starting in 2013, Gaia will deliver highly accurate astrometric data, which eventually will supersede most other stellar catalogues in accuracy and completeness. It is, however, lim- ited to observations from magnitude 6 to 20 and will therefore not include the brightest stars. Nano-JASMINE, an ultrasmall Japanese astrometry satellite, will observe these bright stars, but with much lower accuracy. Hence, the Hipparcos catalogue from 1997 will likely remain the main source of accurate distances to bright nearby stars. We are investigating how this might be improved by optimally combining data from all three missions in a joint astrometric solu- tion. This would take advantage of the unique features of each mission: the historic bright-star measurements of Hipparcos, the updated bright-star observations of Nano-JASMINE, and the very accurate reference frame of Gaia. The long temporal baseline between the missions pro- vides additional benefits for the determination of proper motions and binary detection, which indirectly improve the parallax determination further. We present a quantitative analysis of the expected gains based on simulated data for all three missions., Final draft for the proceedings of the IAU Symposium 289: Advancing the physics of cosmic distances, held in Beijing, China, August 2012, eds. Richard de Grijs and Giuseppe Bono, Cambridge Univ. Press

Gaia, the next astrometric mission of the European Space Agency, will use a camera composed of 106 CCDs to collect multiple observations for one billion stars. The astrometric core solution of Gaia will use the estimated location of the stellar images on the CCDs to derive the astrometric parameters (position, parallax and proper motion) of the stars. The Gaia CCDs will suffer from charge transfer inefficiency (CTI) mainly caused by radiation damage. CTI is expected to significantly degrade the quality of the collected images which ultimately affects the astrometric accuracy of Gaia. This paper is the second and last in a study aiming at characterizing and quantifying the impact of CCD radiation damage on Gaia astrometry. Here we focus on the effect of the image location errors induced by CTI on the astrometric solution. We apply the Gaia Astrometric Global Iterative Solution (AGIS) to simulated Gaia-like observations for 1 million stars including CTI-induced errors as described in the first paper. We show that a magnitude-dependent image location bias is propagated in the astrometric solution, biasing the estimation of the astrometric parameters as well as decreasing its precision. We demonstrate how the Gaia scanning law dictates this propagation and the ultimate sky distribution of the CTI-induced errors. The possibility of using the residuals of the astrometric solution to improve the calibration of the CTI effects is investigated. We also estimate the astrometric errors caused by (faint) disturbing stars preceding the stellar measurements on the CCDs. Finally, we show that, for single stars, the overall astrometric accuracy of Gaia can be preserved to within 10 per cent of the CTI-free case for all magnitudes by appropriate modelling at the image location estimation level and using the solution residuals. (Less)

Context. Gaia Data Release 2 (DR2) offers unparalleled precision on stars’ parallaxes and proper motions. This allows the prediction of microlensing events for which the lens stars (and any planets they possess) are nearby and may be well studied and characterised. Aims. We identify a number of potential microlensing events that will occur before the year 2035.5, 20 years from the Gaia DR2 reference epoch. Methods. We query Gaia DR2 for potential lenses within 100 pc, extract parallaxes and proper motions of the lenses and background sources, and identify potential lensing events. We estimate the lens masses from Priam effective temperatures and use these to calculate peak magnifications and the size of the Einstein radii relative to the lens stars’ habitable zones. Results. We identify seven future events with a probability >10% of an alignment within one Einstein radius. Of particular interest is DR2 5918299904067162240 (WISE J175839.20–583931.6), magnitude G = 14.9, which will lens a G = 13.9 background star in early 2030, with a median 23% net magnification. Other pairs are typically fainter, hampering characterisation of the lens (if the lens is faint) or the ability to accurately measure the magnification (if the source is much fainter than the lens). Of timely interest is DR2 4116504399886241792 (2MASS J17392440–2327071), which will lens a background star in July 2020, albeit with weak net magnification (0.03%). Median magnifications for the other five high-probability events range from 0.3% to 5.3%. The Einstein radii for these lenses are one to ten times the radius of the habitable zone, allowing these lensing events to pick out cold planets around the ice line, and filling a gap between transit and current microlensing detections of planets around very low-mass stars. Conclusions. We provide a catalogue of the predicted events to aid future characterisation efforts. Current limitations include a lack of many high-proper-motion objects in Gaia DR2 and often large uncertainties on the proper motions of the background sources (or only two-parameter solutions). Both of these deficiencies will be rectified with Gaia DR3 in 2020. Further characterisation of the lenses is also warranted to better constrain their masses and predict the photometric magnifications.

The ESA space astrometry mission Gaia, due for launch in early 2012, will in addition to its huge output of fundamental astrometric and astrophysical data also provide stringent tests of general relativity. In this paper we present an updated analysis of Gaia's capacity to measure the PPN parameter γ as part of its core astrometric solution. The analysis is based on small-scale astrometric solutions taking into account the simultaneous determination of stellar astrometric parameters and the satellite attitude. In particular, the statistical correlation between PPN γ and the stellar parallaxes is considered. Extrapolating the results to a full-scale solution using some 100 million stars, we find that PPN γ could be obtained to about 10−6, which is significantly better than today's best estimate from the Cassini mission of 2 × 10−5.

Accurate characterization of the astrometric errors in the forthcoming Gaia catalogue is essential for making optimal use of the data. Using small-scale numerical simulations of the astrometric solution, we investigate the expected spatial correlation between the astrometric errors of stars as function of their angular separation. Extrapolating to the full-scale solution for the final Gaia catalogue, we find that the expected correlations are generally very small, but could reach some fraction of a percent for angular separations smaller than about one degree. The spatial correlation length is related to the size of the field of view of Gaia, while the maximum correlation coefficient is related to the mean number of stars present in the field at any time. Our scalable simulation tool (AGISLab) makes it possible to characterize the astrometric errors and correlations, e.g., as functions of position and magnitude.

We investigate whether it is possible that viable microbes could have been transported to Earth from the planets in extra-solar systems by means of natural vehicles such as ejecta expelled by comet or asteroid impacts on such planets. The probabilities of close encounters with other solar systems are taken into account as well as the limitations of bacterial survival times inside ejecta in space, caused by radiation and DNA decay. The conclusion is that no potentially DNA/RNA life-carrying ejecta from another solar system in the general Galactic star field landed on Earth before life already existed on Earth, not even if microbial survival time in space is as long as tens of millions of years. However, if the Sun formed initially as a part of a star cluster, as is commonly assumed, we cannot rule out the possibility of transfer of life from one of the sister systems to us. Likewise, there is a possibility that some extra-solar planets carry life that originated in our solar system. It will be of great interest to identify the members of the Sun's birth cluster of stars and study them for evidence for planets and life on the planets. The former step may be accomplished by the GAIA mission, the latter step by the SIM and DARWIN missions. Therefore it may not be too long until we have experimental knowledge on the question whether the natural transfer of life from one solar system to another has actually taken place., Comment: 25 pages, 1 table, accepted to ApJ

The ESA space astrometry mission Gaia will measure the positions, parallaxes and proper motions of the 1 billion brightest stars on the sky. Expected accuracies are in the 7–25 μas range down to 15 mag and sub-mas accuracies at the faint limit (20 mag). The astrometric data are complemented by low-resolution spectrophotometric data in the 330–1000 nm wavelength range and, for the brighter stars, radial velocity measurements. The scientific case covers an extremely wide range of topics in galactic and stellar astrophysics, solar system and exoplanet science, as well as the establishment of a very accurate, dense and faint optical reference frame. With a planned launch around 2012 and an (extended) operational lifetime of 6 years, final results are expected around 2021. We give a brief overview of the science goals of Gaia, the overall project organisation, expected performance, and some key technical features and challenges.

Context. The Gaia project will determine positions, proper motions, and parallaxes for more than one billion stars in our Galaxy. It is known that Gaia's two telescopes are affected by a small but significant variation of the basic angle between them. Unless this variation is taken into account during data processing, e.g. using on-board metrology, it causes systematic errors in the astrometric parameters, in particular a shift of the parallax zero-point. Previously, we suggested an early reduction of Gaia data for the subset of Tycho-2 stars (Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution; TGAS). Aims. We aim to investigate whether quasars can be used to independently verify the parallax zero-point already in early data reductions. This is not trivially possible as the observation interval is too short to disentangle parallax and proper motion for the quasar subset. Methods. We repeat TGAS simulations but additionally include simulated Gaia observations of quasars from ground-based surveys. All observations are simulated with basic angle variations. To obtain a full astrometric solution for the quasars in TGAS we explore the use of prior information for their proper motions. Results. It is possible to determine the parallax zero-point for the quasars with a few {\mu}as uncertainty, and it agrees to a similar precision with the zero-point for the Tycho-2 stars. The proposed strategy is robust even for quasars exhibiting significant fictitious proper motion due to a variable source structure, or when the quasar subset is contaminated with stars misidentified as quasars. Conclusions. Using prior information about quasar proper motions we could provide an independent verification of the parallax zero-point in early solutions based on less than one year of Gaia data., Comment: Astronomy & Astrophysics, accepted 25 October 2015, in press. Version 2 contains a few language improvements and a terminology change from 'fictitious proper motions' to 'spurious proper motions'

Wavelength measurements in stellar spectra cannot readily be interpretedas true stellar motion on the sub-km s-1 accuracy level dueto the presence of many other effects, such as gravitational redshiftand stellar convection, which also produce line shifts. Following arecommendation by the IAU, the result of an accurate spectroscopicradial-velocity observation should therefore be given as the``barycentric radial-velocity measure'', i.e. the absolute spectralshift as measured by an observer at zero gravitational potential locatedat the solar-system barycentre. Standard procedures for reducingaccurate radial-velocity observations should be reviewed to take intoaccount this recommendation. We describe a procedure to determineaccurate barycentric radial-velocity measures of bright stars, based ondigital cross-correlation of spectra obtained with the ELODIEspectrometer (Observatoire de Haute-Provence) with a synthetic templateof Fe I lines. The absolute zero point of the radial-velocity measuresis linked to the wavelength scale of the Kurucz (1984) Solar Flux Atlasvia ELODIE observations of the Moon. Results are given for the Sun and42 stars, most of them members of the Hyades and Ursa Major clusters.The median internal standard error is 27 m s-1. The externalerror is estimated at around 120 m s-1, mainly reflecting theuncertainty in the wavelength scale of the Solar Flux Atlas. For the Sunwe find a radial-velocity measure of +257+/- 11 m s-1referring to the full-disk spectrum of the selected Fe I lines. Based onobservations made at Observatoire de Haute-Provence

We discuss the point spread function for the Spectro instrument based on realistic effects of the time delayed integration, transverse image motion and pixelization, but assuming rather small wave front errors. Stars brighter than 10 mag, which will saturate the CCD, may be observed photometrically using the image wings, but the central wavelengths will be slightly shifted towards the red.

We provide a revised assessment of the number of exoplanets that should be discovered by Gaia astrometry, extending previous studies to a broader range of spectral types, distances, and magnitudes. Our assessment is based on a large representative sample of host stars from the TRILEGAL Galaxy population synthesis model, recent estimates of the exoplanet frequency distributions as a function of stellar type, and detailed simulation of the Gaia observations using the updated instrument performance and scanning law. We use two approaches to estimate detectable planetary systems: one based on the S/N of the astrometric signature per field crossing, easily reproducible and allowing comparisons with previous estimates, and a new and more robust metric based on orbit fitting to the simulated satellite data. With some plausible assumptions on planet occurrences, we find that some 21,000 (+/-6000) high-mass (1-15M_J) long-period planets should be discovered out to distances of ~500pc for the nominal 5-yr mission (including at least 1000-1500 around M dwarfs out to 100pc), rising to some 70,000 (+/-20,000) for a 10-yr mission. We indicate some of the expected features of this exoplanet population, amongst them ~25-50 intermediate-period (P~2-3yr) transiting systems., 41 pages, 12 figures; accepted for publication in ApJ

Hipparcos observations of double stars, mainly A and F primaries, are modelled in order to check the statistics of double-star solutions in the Hipparcos Catalogue and to set quantitative limits on binary distributions. The number of companions per primary is estimated to 0.25 ± 0.05 for semi-major axes from 1 to 10 AU, and to 0.43 ± 0.20 for the range 10–100 AU. The total multiplicity found is between 0.9 and 1.2.

The apparent radial velocity of a star, as deduced from wavelength shifts, comprises not merely its true velocity, but also components arising from dynamics in the star’s atmosphere, gravitational redshift, and other effects. For the Sun, such phenomena can be segregated since the relative Sun-Earth motion is known from planetary system dynamics. This is now becoming possible also for other stars, whose true radial motions are determined through space astrometry. A study of the differences between accurate astrometric velocities (from Hipparcos), and precise spectroscopic values (from ELODIE) is in progress. Data for cool stars in the Hyades indicate a tendency of relative blueshifts among earlier main-sequence F-type stars, and in giants. This is theoretically expected: an increased convective blueshift due to the more vigorous convection in F-stars, and a decreased gravitational redshift in giants.

Context. Kinematical data such as the mean velocities and velocity dispersions of stellar samples are useful tools to study galactic structure and evolution. However, observational data are often incomplete (e.g., lacking the radial component of the motion) and may have significant observational errors. For example, the majority of faint stars observed with Gaia will not have their radial velocities measured. Aims. Our aim is to formulate and test a new maximum likelihood approach to estimating the kinematical parameters for a local stellar sample when only the transverse velocities are known (from parallaxes and proper motions). Methods. Numerical simulations using synthetically generated data as well as real data (based on the Geneva-Copenhagen survey) are used to investigate the statistical properties (bias, precision) of the method, and to compare its performance with the much simpler "projection method" described by Dehnen & Binney (1998). Results. The maximum likelihood method gives more correct estimates of the dispersion when observational errors are important, and guarantees a positive-definite dispersion matrix, which is not always obtained with the projection method. Possible extensions and improvements of the method are discussed., 7 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

We discuss the propagation of random errors in the so-called ‘great-circle reduction’ of the Hipparcos mission and for the proposed space astrometry project ROEMER. As a step towards the determination of stellar positions, proper motions and parallaxes, one-dimensional instantaneous relative positions of stars along fixed great circles are estimated from elementary measurements of the locations of stellar images within the instrument's field of view. The measurement errors, being dominated by photon noise, can be regarded as uncorrelated. The precision of the calculated one-dimensional positions (‘abscissae’) depends on the precision and number of elementary measurements, the number of stars and their distribution in magnitude, and finally on the ‘rigidity’ of the great-circle reduction. The rigidity quantifies how well the random measurement errors are averaged out in the least-squares solution, and is closely related to the condition number of the design matrix. We discuss the rigidity concept for idealised situations involving one, two, or several fields of view (zero, one, or more basic angles). A simple model of the error propagation is derived and used to predict the precision for a hypothetical space astrometry project such as ROEMER. It is found that the rigidity is much improved by the greater number of stars observed with ROEMER.

The HIPPARCOS satellite observes 118,000 stars from a predefined list. Some 10% of these are known doubles or multiples, and another 2—3% may ultimately be found to be non-single with separations above 0″.l and magnitude–differences below 4–5. This paper describes briefly the special reduction methods used by NDAC (Northern Data Analysis Consortium) for treating these non-singles. A key feature is the use of the main reduction results to calibrate and collect the data for individual doubles in ‘case history files’. This enables a global solution of both absolute and relative parameters for a double to be carried out in a single step. Using provisional data tapes covering small parts of a 14-month interval, tests have been made of major parts of the double star reductions. These early results are compared with independent HIPPARCOS data and with ground–based speckle interferometry.

The pre-launch accuracy prediction for the Hipparcos mission is reviewed with regard to the observed performance and expected lifetime of the satellite in its present orbit. Given the excellent quality of the data it is likely that the target accuracy of 2 milli-arcsec for typical programme stars can be achieved if operations continue at least until the end of 1993. We emphasize that any extension of the operational lifetime beyond that point strongly enhances the scientific value of the results.

The European Gaia astrometry mission is due for launch in 2011. Gaia will rely on the proven principles of ESA's Hipparcos mission to create an all-sky survey of about one billion stars throughout our Galaxy and beyond, by observing all objects down to 20th magnitude. Through its massive measurement of stellar distances, motions and multi-colour photometry it will provide fundamental data necessary for unravelling the structure, formation and evolution of the Galaxy. This paper presents the design and performance of the broad- and medium-band set of photometric filters adopted as the baseline for Gaia. The nineteen selected passbands (extending from the ultraviolet to the far-red), the criteria, and the methodology on which this choice has been based are discussed in detail. We analyse the photometric capabilities for characterizing the luminosity, temperature, gravity and chemical composition of stars. We also discuss the automatic determination of these physical parameters for the large number of observations involved, for objects located throughout the entire Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Finally, the capability of the photometric system to deal with the main Gaia science case is outlined., MNRAS, accepted 1-Dec-2005; 26 pages, 15 figures

ESA’s Gaia mission will provide accurate astrometric, photometric and spectroscopic data for millions of stars in the Galaxy and beyond. We discuss the prospects of using this vast amount of astrophysical information for understanding star formation histories in the Galaxy and its immediate neighbors within the Local Group.

We discuss the tracing of star formation histories with ESA's space astrometry mission GAIA, emphasizing the advantages of AGB stars for this purpose. GAIA's microarcsecond-level astrometry, multi-band photometry and spectroscopy will provide individual distances, motions, effective temperatures, gravities and metallicities for vast numbers of AGB stars in the Galaxy and beyond. Reliable ages of AGB stars can be determined to distances of \~200 kpc in a wide range of ages and metallicities, allowing star formation histories to be studied in a diversity of astrophysical environments.

Spectroscopic radial velocities for several nearby open clusters suggest that spectra of (especially earlier-type) rapidly rotating stars are systematically blueshifted by 3 km/s or more, relative to the spectra of slowly rotating ones. Comparisons with astrometrically determined radial motions in the Hyades suggests this to be an absolute blueshift, relative to wavelengths naively expected from stellar radial motion and gravitational redshift. Analogous trends are seen also in most other clusters studied (Pleiades, Coma Berenices, Praesepe, Alpha Persei, IC 2391, NGC 6475, IC 4665, NGC 1976 and NGC 2516). Possible mechanisms are discussed, including photospheric convection, stellar pulsation, meridional circulation, and shock-wave propagation, as well as effects caused by template mismatch in determining wavelength displacements. For early-type stars, a plausible mechanism is shock-wave propagation upward through the photospheric line-forming regions. Such wavelength shifts thus permit studies of certain types of stellar atmospheric dynamics and - irrespective of their cause - may influence deduced open-cluster membership (when selected from common velocity) and deduced cluster dynamics (some types of stars might show fortuitous velocity patterns)., Comment: Accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysics; 6 pages, 3 figures

Radial motions of stars in nearby moving clusters are determined from accurate proper motions and trigonometric parallaxes, without any use of spectroscopy. Assuming that cluster members share the same velocity vector (apart from a random dispersion), we apply a maximum-likelihood method on astrometric data from Hipparcos to compute radial and space velocities (and their dispersions) in the Ursa Major, Hyades, Coma Berenices, Pleiades, and Praesepe clusters, and for the alpha Persei, Scorpius-Centaurus, and `HIP 98321' associations. The radial motion of the Hyades cluster is determined to within 0.47 km/s (standard error), and that of its individual stars to within 0.6 km/s. For other clusters, Hipparcos data yield astrometric radial velocities with typical accuracies of a few km/s. A comparison of these astrometric values with spectroscopic radial velocities in the literature shows a good general agreement and, in the case of the best-determined Hyades cluster, also permits searches for subtle astrophysical differences, such as evidence for enhanced convective blueshifts of F-dwarf spectra, and decreased gravitational redshifts in giants. Similar comparisons for the Scorpius OB2 complex indicate some expansion of its associations, albeit slower than expected from their ages. As a by-product from the radial-velocity solutions, kinematically improved parallaxes for individual stars are obtained, enabling Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams with unprecedented accuracy in luminosity. For the Hyades (parallax accuracy 0.3 mas), its main sequence resembles a thin line, possibly with wiggles in it., 18 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

High-precision astrometric and radial-velocity observations require accurate modelling of stellar motions in order to extrapolate measurements over long time intervals, and to detect deviations from uniform motion caused for example by unseen companions. We aim to explore the simplest possible kinematic model of stellar motions, namely that of uniform rectilinear motion relative to the Solar System Barycentre, in terms of observable quantities including error propagation. The apparent path equation for uniform rectilinear motion is solved analytically in a classical (special-relativistic) framework, leading to rigorous expressions which relate the (apparent) astrometric parameters and radial velocity to the (true) kinematic parameters of the star in the barycentric reference system. We present rigorous and explicit formulae for the transformation of stellar positions, parallaxes, proper motions, and radial velocities from one epoch to another, assuming uniform rectilinear motion and taking into account light-time effects. The Jacobian matrix of the transformation is also given, allowing accurate and reversible propagation of errors over arbitrary time intervals. The light-time effects are generally very small but exceeds 0.1 mas or 0.1 m/s over 100 yr for at least 33 stars in the Hipparcos Catalogue. For high-velocity stars within a few tens of pc from the Sun light-time effects are generally more important than the effects of the curvature of their orbits in the Galactic potential., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A

A number of large spectroscopic surveys of stars in the Milky Way are under way or are being planned. In this context it is important to discuss the extent to which elemental abundances can be used as discriminators between different (known and unknown) stellar populations in the Milky Way. We aim to establish the requirements in terms of precision in elemental abundances, as derived from spectroscopic surveys of the Milky Way's stellar populations, in order to detect interesting substructures in elemental abundance space. We present a simple relation between the minimum number of stars needed to detect a given substructure and the precision of the measurements. The results are in agreement with recent small- and large-scale studies, with high and low precision, respectively. Large-number statistics cannot fully compensate for low precision in the abundance measurements and each survey should carefully evaluate what the main science drivers are for the survey and ensure that the chosen observational strategy will result in the precision necessary to answer the questions posed., Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

GAIA represents a preliminary concept for an astrometric mission being considered in the context of ESA's `Horizon 2000 Plus' long-term scientific program. It comprises three stacked Fizeau interferometers viewing different directions within an instantaneous scanning circle, each interferometer consisting of two 50 cm aperture mirrors with a baseline separation of 2.5 m. Equipped with a modulating grid, and using CCDs, at least as the baseline detector, repeated scanning of the celestial sphere over a period of five years is estimated to lead to positions, proper motions, and parallaxes of some 50 million objects, down to about V equals 15 mag, with an accuracy of better than 10 microarcsec, along with multi-color multi-epoch photometry of each object. The scientific case for such a mission is compelling: distances and kinematical motions for objects throughout our Galaxy would be obtained, along with valuable information on the space-time metric ((gamma) ), angular diameters of hundreds of stars, and a vast body of information on double and multiple systems. Screening of all 100,000 stars within 100 pc for periodic photocentric motions would provide the most powerful and systematic method of detecting possible planetary companions proposed to date.

Context. To use the data in the future Gaia catalogue it is important to have accurate estimates of the statistical uncertainties and correlations of the errors in the astrometric data given in the catalogue. Aims. In a previous paper we derived a mathematical model for computing the covariances of the astrometric data based on series expansions and a simplified attitude description. The aim of the present paper is to determine to what extent this model provides an accurate representation of the expected random errors in the astrometric solution for Gaia. Methods. We simulate the astrometric core solution by making least-squares solutions of the astrometric parameters for one million stars and the attitude parameters for a five-year mission, using nearly one billion simulated elementary observations for a total of 26 million unknowns. Two cases are considered: one in which all stars have the same magnitude, and another with 30% brighter and 70% fainter stars. The resulting astrometric errors are statistically compared with the model predictions. Results. In all cases considered, and within the statistical uncertainties of the numerical experiments (typically below 0.4%), the theoretically calculated variances and covariances are consistent with the simulations. To achieve this it is however necessary to expand the covariances to at least third or fourth order, and to apply a (theoretically motivated and derived) "fudge factor" in the kinematographic model. Conclusions. The model provides a feasible method to estimate the covariance of arbitrary astrometric data, accurate enough for most applications, and as such it should be available as part of the user's interface to the Gaia catalogue. A main assumption in the current model is that the observational errors are uncorrelated (e.g., photon noise), and further studies are needed on how correlated modelling errors, in particular in the attitude, can be taken into account.

We describe a concept for an interferometric space mission dedicated to global (wide-angle) astrometry. The GAIA satellite contains two small (baseline APEQ 3 m) optical interferometers of the Fizeau type, mechanically set at a large and fixed angle to each other. Each interferometer has a field of view of about one degree. Continuous rotation of the whole satellite provides angular connections between the stars passing through the two fields of view. Positions, absolute parallaxes and annual proper motions can be determined with accuracies on the 20 micro-arcsec level. The observing programme may consist of all objects to a limiting magnitude around V = 15-16, including 50 million stars. The GAIA concept, which has been proposed for a Cornerstone Mission within the European Space Agency's long-term science programme, is based on the same general principles as the very successful ESA Hipparcos mission, but takes advantage of the much higher resolution and efficiency permitted by interferometry and modern detector techniques.

Context. The Gaia satellite will measure highly accurate absolute parallaxes of hundreds of millions of stars by comparing the parallactic displacements in the two fields of view of the optical instrument. The requirements on the stability of the 'basic angle' between the two fields are correspondingly strict, and possible variations (on the microarcsec level) are therefore monitored by an on-board metrology system. Nevertheless, since even very small periodic variations of the basic angle might cause a global offset of the measured parallaxes, it is important to find independent verification methods. Aims. We investigate the potential use of Galactic Cepheids as standard candles for verifying the Gaia parallax zero point. Methods. We simulate the complete population of Galactic Cepheids and their observations by Gaia. Using the simulated data, simultaneous fits are made of the parameters of the period-luminosity relation and a global parallax zero point. Results. The total number of Galactic Cepheids is estimated at about 20 000, of which nearly half could be observed by Gaia. In the most favourable circumstances, including negligible intrinsic scatter and extinction errors, the determined parallax zero point has an uncertainty of 0.2 microarcsec. With more realistic assumptions the uncertainty is several times larger, and the result is very sensitive to errors in the applied extinction corrections. Conclusions. The use of Galactic Cepheids alone will not be sufficient to determine a possible parallax zero-point error to the full potential systematic accuracy of Gaia. The global verification of Gaia parallaxes will most likely depend on a combination of many different methods, including this one., Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics

A CCD modulation detector for a possible Hipparcos-2 mission is described. It is at least 1000 times more light efficient than the image dissector tube system used in the current Hipparcos mission. A beam combiner telescope with 29 cm aperture diameter could measure all 15 million stars brighter than 14th magnitude, providing accurate multi-colour photometry in addition to the astrometric parameters. Using two telescopes with different basic angles will further improve the rigidity of the resulting system of positions and proper motions. An accuracy of 0.5 milli-arcsec up to 10th magnitude is expected for a 2.5 year mission. The modulating grid is imaged on a CCD performing a ‘cophased integration’ of nine separate images of the whole field of view, each image representing a different part of the modulation period.

Stellar intensity scintillation in the optical was extensively studies at the astronomical observatory on La Palma (Canary Islands). Photon-counting detectors and digital signal processors recorded temporal auto-and cross-correlation functions, power spectra, and probability distributions. This first paper of a series treats the temporal properties of scintillation, ranging from microseconds to seasons of year. Previous studies, and the mechanisms producing scintillation are reviewed. Atmospheric turbulence causes 'flying shadows' on the ground, and intensity fluctuations occur both because this pattern is carried by winds, and is intrinsically changing. On very short timescales, a break in the correlation functions around 300 mus may be a signature of an inner scale (approx. 3 mm in the shadow pattern at windspeeds of ms -1). On millisecond timescales, the autocorrelation decreases for smaller telescope apertures until approx. 5 cm, when the 'flying shadows' become resolved. During any night, timescales and amplitudes evolve on scales of tens of minutes. In good summer conditions, the flying-shadow patterns are sufficiently regular and long-lived to show anti-correlation dips in autocorrelation functions, which in winter are smeared out by apparent wind shear. Recordings of intensity variance together with stellar speckle images suggest some correlation between good [angular] seeing and large scintillation. Near zenith, the temporal statistics (with up to 12:th order moments measured)is best fitted by a Beta distribution of the second kind (F-distribution), although it is well approximated by log-normal functions, evolving with time.

The post-main-sequence evolution of stellar activity and of nonthermal processes in solar-type atmospheres is studied through a detailed comparison of the current Sun (G2 V) with the very old solar-type star β Hyi (G2 IV). Magnetically related activity decreases with age, and in very old stars one might possibly find the absolute minimum of stellar activity. In the solar galactic neighborhood, the closest single solar-type star, with an old age well-determined from evolutionary tracks, is β Hyi (HR 98, HD2151; G2 IV)

The Hipparcos satellite has a predefined observing program given by an Input Catalogue with 118 000 entries. This includes some 10 000 members of known double or multiple systems (with separations above 0.1 arcsec and magnitude-differences below 4-5), which are observably non-single and thus need a more complex reduction procedure. Also, a similar number of hitherto unknown doubles showing deviations from a single-star observation model will be included in the double-star reductions. A key feature in the NDAC reductions is the use of the main reduction results to calibrate and collect the data for individual doubles in ‘Case History Files’. This enables a global solution of both absolute and relative parameters for a double to be carried out later in a single solution. Using provisional data tapes covering small parts of a 14-month interval, tests have been made of major parts of the double star reductions. Comparisons with the main reduction results for single stars indicate that remaining calibration errors are below the 10 milliarcsec level. For known doubles, the solutions are good relative to the Input Catalogue at the expected 0.3 arcsec level, and for a few tens of systems observed with the star-mapper, the agreement is at the 0.05 arcsec level. A few hundred doubles not flagged in the Input Catalogue have also been detected and had their parameters provisionally determined. A detailed paper describing these methods and results has been accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysics.

This contribution is intended as a `rough guide' to the Hipparcos Catalogue for the non-expert user. Some general aspects of the use of astrometric data are discussed as well as Hipparcos-specific applications. We discuss when and at what level one may expect systematic errors to occur in the Hipparcos Catalogue. Next we discuss the question of the interpretation of the measured parallaxes in terms of distances and luminosities of stars. What are the biases one should be aware of and how can these be corrected? When using the astrometric data to study the statistics of stars one should take the full covariance matrix of the errors on the astrometric parameters into account. We explain how to do this and discuss the specific case of a moving cluster. Finally, we address the question of the correlation of astrometric parameters over a given region of the sky. At present the Hipparcos Catalogue contains no identified systematic errors., 6 pages, 5 PS-figures, LaTeX using venice97.sty and twocolumn.sty To appear in the proceedings of the "Hipparcos Venice '97" symposium, ESA SP-402

GAIA is a short-listed candidate for the ESA Cornerstone mission C5, meeting the ESA Survey Committee requirement for an observatory mission, dedicated to astrometry, providing 10 micro-arcsecond accuracy at 15th magnitude. The GAIA mission concept follows the dramatic success of the ESA HIPPARCOS mission, utilising a continuously scanning spacecraft, accurately measuring 1-D coordinates along great circles, in (at least) two simultaneous fields of view, separated by a known angle. These 1-D relative coordinates are later converted to the five astrometric parameters of position and motions in a global analysis. GAIA will provide precise astrometry and multi-colour photometry for all the one billion stars, quasars, and compact galaxies to I=20 on the sky. GAIA will additionally provide the sixth phase-space parameter, radial velocity, from a slitless spectroscopic survey of most stars brighter than about magnitude 17. The technical challenges are considerable, but achievable. The scientific returns are spectacular, with greatest impact in the study of stellar populations and dynamical structure of the galaxies of our Local Group, and in providing the first complete census of the stars and massive planets in the Solar neighbourhood. GAIA will revolutionise our knowledge of the origin and evolution of our Milky Way Galaxy, and of the distribution of planetary systems around other stars., Proc SPIE Conference 3350, March 1998 (in press) Astronomical Interferometry (latex, uses spie.sty)

GAIA is a preliminary concept for an astrometric mission, recently recommended within the context of ESA's `Horizon 2000 Plus' long-term scientific programme. In its present form, the experiment is estimated to lead to positions, proper motions, and parallaxes of some 50 million objects, down to about mag, with an accuracy better than 10 microarcsec, along with multi-colour multi-epoch photometry of each object. The scientific case for such a mission is dramatic: distances and kinematical motions for tens of millions of objects, throughout our Galaxy, would be obtained—the expected accuracy is such that direct (trigonometric) distance estimates to the galactic centre would be accurate to 10%, with transverse motions accurate to about 1 km s-1 at 20 kpc. As `by-products', the global measurements would yield unprecedented information on the space-time metric (γ to a precision of about 1 part in 106 or better, close to values which might distinguish currently competing theories of gravity), angular diameters of hundreds of stars, and a vast body of information on double and multiple systems. Perhaps the most dramatic of these subsidiary goals would be the possibility of screening some stars within 100 pc for periodic photocentric motions, which would provide the most powerful and systematic method of detecting possible planetary companions proposed to date.