The Gaia Astrometric Survey

TL;DR

The Gaia mission will perform high-precision all-sky astrometry for a billion stars, revolutionizing stellar, Galactic, and planetary system astrophysics by overcoming complex technical challenges in modeling planetary signals at micro-arcsecond precision.

Contribution

This paper discusses the technical challenges and potential scientific impacts of Gaia's micro-arcsecond astrometry on planetary system studies.

Findings

Gaia will provide unprecedented astrometric data for 1 billion stars.

Modeling planetary signals at micro-arcsecond precision is highly complex.

Gaia's data will significantly advance understanding of planetary system formation and evolution.

Abstract

In its all-sky survey, the ESA global astrometry mission Gaia will perform high-precision astrometry and photometry for 1 billion stars down to $V = 20$ mag. The data collected in the Gaia catalogue, to be published by the end of the next decade, will likely revolutionize our understanding of many aspects of stellar and Galactic astrophysics. One of the relevant areas in which the Gaia observations will have great impact is the astrophysics of planetary systems. This summary focuses on a) the complex technical problems related to and challenges inherent in correctly modelling the signals of planetary systems present in measurements collected with a space-borne observatory poised to carry out precision astrometry at the micro-arcsecond ($\mu$as) level, and b) on the potential of Gaia $\mu$as astrometry for important contributions to the astrophysics of planetary systems.