Hipparcos, the New Reduction of the Raw Data

About this book

The new reduction of the Hipparcos data presents a very significant improvement in the overall reliability of the astrometric catalogue derived from this mission. Improvements by up to a factor 4 in the accuracies for in particular brighter stars have been obtained. This has been achieved mainly through careful study of the satellite dynamics, and incorporating results from these studies in the attitude modelling. Data correlations, caused by attitude-modelling errors in the original catalogue, have all but disappeared.

This book provides overviews of the new reduction as well as on the use of the Hipparcos data in a variety of astrophysical implementations. A range of new results, like cluster distances and luminosity calibrations, is presented. The Hipparcos data provide a unique opportunity for the study of satellite dynamics. The orbit covered a wide range of altitudes, showing in detail the different torques acting on the satellite. One part of the book details these studies and their impact on the new reduction. It furthermore presents an extensive summary on a wide range of spacecraft and payload calibrations, which provide a detailed record of the conditions under which these unique Hipparcos data have been obtained. The book is accompanied by a DVD with the new catalogue and the underlying data.

Contents

List of Figures. List of Tables. List of Acronyms. Preface. Introduction. Dedication. Part I The Hipparcos mission. 1. THE HIPPARCOS MISSION. 1.1 Overture. 1.2 The mission. 1.3 The published data. 1.4 Concepts of the new reduction. 2. HIPPARCOS ASTROMETRY 2.1 From positions and velocities to astrometric data. 2.2 The Hipparcos astrometric data 2.3 Reconstruction of the along-scan rotation phase. 2.4 Grid distortions 2.5 Astrometric-parameter solutions. Part II Exploring the Hipparcos astrometric data. 3. INDIVIDUAL, SINGLE STARS. 3.1 Precisions and accuracies. 3.2 Correlations. 3.3 Parallaxes. 3.4 Proper motions. 3.5 Disturbed solutions. 3.6 Comparison with the ICRS. 4. THE ASTROMETRIC DATA FOR COMPOSITE IMAGES AND ORBITAL BINARIES. 4.1 The modulated signal for small-separation double stars. 4.2 Astrometric parameters for double stars. 4.3 Double stars with two catalogue entries. 4.4 Variable-brightness of one component. 4.5 Multiple systems. 4.6 Orbital motions. 5. GROUPS OF SINGLE STARS. 5.1 Solving for common parameters. 5.2 Application to star clusters. 5.3 Calibrating luminosities. 5.4 Conclusions. 6. KINEMATICS OF THE SOLAR NEIGHBOURHOOD. 6.1 Systematic motions. 6.2 The distribution of nearby stars. Part III Hipparcos Photometric data. 7 THE PHOTOMETRIC DATA. 7.1 The Hipparcos photometric pass bands. 7.2 Formal errors and variability indicators. 7.3 Variability analysis. 7.4 Newly discovered variables. Part IV Hipparcos attitude modelling. 8. A FREE-FLOATING RIGID BODY IN SPACE. 8.1 Dynamics of a rigid body in space. 8.2 The internal torques and inertia tensor. 8.3 External torques acting on the satellite. 8.4 Non-rigidity. 9. THE TORQUES ON HIPPARCOS AS OBSERVED OVER THE MISSION. 9.1 Relation between attitude and torque reconstruction. 9.2 Solar radiation torques. 9.3 Magnetic torques and the remaining torque variations. 9.4 Predictability of the environmental torques. 10. FULLY-DYNAMIC ATTITUDE FITTING. 10.1 Outline of the method. 10.2 The integration engines. 10.3 Implementing the gyro data. 10.4 Implementing the star mapper data. 10.5 Implementing the Image Dissector Tube (IDT) transit data. 10.6 Conclusions. Part V Summary of calibration results. 11. THE MISSION TIMELINE. 11.1 Trend analysis and anomalies. 11.2 Data coverage and detector response. 12. PAYLOAD CALIBRATIONS. 12.1 The optical transfer function. 12.2 Large-scale geometric-distortion calibration. 12.3 Photometric calibrations. 13. SPACECRAFT-PARAMETER CALIBRATIONS. 13.1 The on-board clock. 13.2 Gyro characteristics. 13.3 Thruster firings and the Centre of Gravity. Part VI The next generation. 14. GAIA. 14.1 Introduction. 14.2 The spacecraft and payload. 14.3 The mission plan. 14.4 The astrometric data reduction.

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