Gaia: on the road to DR2

TL;DR

Gaia DR2 is set to significantly expand and improve the catalog of stellar parallaxes, proper motions, and other astrophysical data for over a billion stars, enhancing our understanding of the Milky Way.

Contribution

This paper provides an early overview of Gaia DR2's expected data improvements and scientific capabilities before its official release.

Findings

Parallax data for over a billion stars will be available.

Enhanced accuracy in astrometric and photometric measurements.

Improved characterization of variable stars and asteroids.

Abstract

The second Gaia data release (DR2) is scheduled for April 2018. While Gaia DR1 had increased the number of stars with parallaxes by a factor 20 with respect to the Hipparcos catalogue, Gaia DR2 will bring another factor 500 increase, with parallaxes (and proper motions) for more than a billion stars. In addition, Gaia DR2 will deliver improved accuracy and precision for the astrometric and photometric data, $G$, $G_\mathrm{BP}$, $G_\mathrm{RP}$ magnitudes, radial velocities, identification and characterisation of variable stars and asteroids as well as stellar parameters for stars down to $G = 17$ mag. On behalf of the teams of the Gaia-DPAC consortium, these proceedings give a foretaste of Gaia DR2, 6 months before the release.