GaiaEuropean Space Agency (ESA) satellite designed to provide highly accurate position and velocity measurements for one billion stars. It is scheduled for launch in December 2011 2013 by a Soyuz rocket from Kourou, FrFrench Guiana.Guia.

Gaia will carry two telescopes, each with an aperture of 1.45 by 0.5 metres (4.76 by 1.6 feet), with an angle of 106.5° between their lines of sight. Gaia will slowly rotate, allowing it to scan the entire sky. Positions for the brightest stars will be measured to an accuracy of 0.000007 arc second, about 140 times more accurate than the positions measured by the previous ESA satellite Hipparcos. Gaia will also carry a photometer to measure the brightness of astronomical objects and a spectrometer to measure the velocities of those objects. Gaia will be positioned near the second Lagrangian point (L2), a gravitational balance point between Earth and the Sun and 1.5 million km (0.9 million miles) opposite the Sun from Earth. The spacecraft will move in a controlled Lissajous pattern around L2 rather than “hovering” there. Its mission is scheduled to last five years.

By providing accurate positions, velocities, and brightnesses, Gaia will have an effect on many areas of astronomy. It will make an accurate three-dimensional map of much of the Milky Way Galaxy. It is expected to observe more than 18 million variable stars. Gaia could also detect many new extrasolar planets.