From prehistoric times, mankind has looked up at the night sky, and puzzled at the changing positions of the stars. How far away they are is a question that has confounded scientists for centuries. Over the last few hundred years, many scientific careers and considerable resources have been devoted to measuring their positions and motions with ever increasing accuracy. And in the last two decades of the 20th century, the European Space Agency developed and launched the Hipparcos satellite, around which this account revolves, to carry out these exacting measurements from space.
What has...
From prehistoric times, mankind has looked up at the night sky, and puzzled at the changing positions of the stars. How far away they are is a ques...
The Hipparcos satellite, developed and launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 1989, was the first space mission dedicated to astrometry the accurate measurement of positions, distances, and proper motions of stars. Amongst the key achievements of its measurements are refining the cosmic distance scale, characterizing the large-scale kinematic motions in the Solar neighborhood, providing precise luminosities for stellar modelling, and confirming Einstein s prediction of the effect of gravity on starlight. This authoritative account of the Hipparcos contributions over the last decade is...
The Hipparcos satellite, developed and launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 1989, was the first space mission dedicated to astrometry the ac...
From prehistoric times, mankind has looked up at the night sky, and puzzled at the changing positions of the stars. How far away they are is a question that has confounded scientists for centuries. Over the last few hundred years, many scientific careers - and considerable resources - have been devoted to measuring their positions and motions with ever increasing accuracy. And in the last two decades of the 20th century, the European Space Agency developed and launched the Hipparcos satellite, around which this account revolves, to carry out these exacting measurements from...
From prehistoric times, mankind has looked up at the night sky, and puzzled at the changing positions of the stars. How far away they are is a ques...
