It will study about 1% of the Milky way population. A successor to the "Hipparcos" mission, it is part of ESA's Horizon 2000 Plus long-term scientific program. Gaia will monitor each of its target stars about 70 times over a period of five years.
Gaia will create an extremely precise three-dimensional map of stars throughout the Milky Way galaxy and map their motions. This data is a product of the origin and subsequent evolution of the Milky Way. The spectroscopic measurements will find the physical properties of each star observed, their luminosity, temperature, gravity and elemental composition. Distances to about 20 million stars will be measured by annual parallax.
The massive stellar census will provide the basic observational data. With the data, astronomers hope to tackle a range of important problems, like the origin, structure, and evolutionary history of our galaxy. Large numbers of quasars, galaxies, extrasolar planets and Solar System bodies will be measured at the same time.
Gaia was launched using a Soyuz rocket from its Guiana Space Centre (GSC) in French Guiana. It is in a Lissajous orbit around the Sun–Earth L Lagrangian point. As of April 2018 it has measured approximately a billion stars and other objects.
Space observatory
A space observatory or a space telescope is any instrument (such as a telescope) in outer space which is used for observation of distant objects. Planets, stars, galaxies, and other outer space objects may be viewed and recorded. This category does not include observatories in space which are pointed toward the earth for the purpose of reconnaissance, meteorology and other types of information gathering.
All observation of space from Earth is filtered through the Earth's atmosphere. The atmosphere filters and distorts what is seen and recorded.
Satellite-based telescopes opened up the Universe to human eyes. Turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere blurs images taken by ground-based telescopes, an effect known as seeing. It is this effect that makes stars "twinkle" in the sky. As a result, the pictures taken by satellite telescopes in visible light (for example, by the Hubble Space Telescope) are much clearer than Earth-based telescopes, even though Earth-based telescopes are very large.
Space-based astronomy is vital for frequency ranges outside the optical and radio windows. For example, X-ray astronomy is nearly impossible when done from the Earth. It has reached its present importance in astronomy due to orbiting X-ray telescopes. Infrared and ultraviolet are also largely blocked by the atmosphere. Most space observatories are in low Earth orbit.
In 1946, American theoretical astrophysicist Lyman Spitzer was the first to propose a telescope in outer space, a decade before the Soviet Union launched the first satellite, "Sputnik".
Spitzer said a large telescope in space, above the Earth's atmosphere, would see better. His efforts resulted in the world's first space-based optical telescope, "Hubble Space Telescope", which was launched on April 20, 1990 by the Space Shuttle "Discovery" (STS-31).
Leeds City College
Leeds City College is a college in the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is for further education, that is, education after finishing the compulsory years of secondary school. It is the largest college for further education in Leeds. It has around 57,000 students, and 2,300 staff. It makes about £78 million each year.
Curve fitting
Curve fitting is constructing a mathematical function which best fits a set of data points.
Curve fitting may involve either interpolation or smoothing. Using interpolation requires an exact fit to the data. With smoothing, a "smooth" function is constructed, that fit the data approximately. A related topic is regression analysis, which focuses more on questions of statistical inference such as how much uncertainty is present in a curve that is fit to data observed with random errors.
Fitted curves can be used to help data visualization, to guess values of a function where no data is available, and to summarize the relationships among two or more variables. Extrapolation refers to the use of a fitted curve beyond the range of the observed data. This is subject to a degree of uncertainty, since it may reflect the method used to construct the curve as much as it reflects the observed data.
Common Brittonic
Common Brittonic (also called Common Brythonic, British, Old Brythonic, or Old Brittonic) was an ancient language spoken in Britain. It was the language of the Celtic people known as the Britons. By the 6th century it split into several Brittonic languages: Welsh, Cumbric, Cornish, and Breton.
Common Brittonic is descended from Proto-Celtic, a hypothetical parent language. By the first half of the first millennium BC it was already dividing into separate dialects or languages. There is some evidence that the Pictish language may have had close ties to Common Brittonic and might be a fifth branch.
Evidence from Welsh shows a great influence from Latin on Common Brittonic during the Roman period. This is particularly true of the Church and Christianity, which are nearly all Latin derivatives. Common Brittonic was replaced in most of Scotland by Gaelic. South of the Firth of Forth it was replaced by Old English (which later developed into Scots). Common Brittonic survived into the Middle Ages in Southern Scotland and Cumbria. Common Brittonic was gradually replaced by English throughout England. In the north of England, Cumbric disappeared as late as the 13th century. In the south, the Cornish was a dead language by the 19th century. There were some attempts to revitalize it have met with some success.
NES Remix
NES Remix is a video game for the Wii U console. It was developed by indieszero and published by Nintendo. It was released on December 18, 2013. In this game, the player has to complete challenges in Nintendo Entertainment System games. For example, the player may have to defeat a number of enemies in "Super Mario Bros." while under a time limit.
Worms Cathedral
The Cathedral of St Peter () is a church in Worms, southern Germany. It was the seat of the Catholic Bishopric (diocese) of Worms before it broke up in 1800. Today, the former cathedral is a Catholic parish church and "basilica minor". Worms Cathedral is where Martin Luther presented his theses on reforms to church authorities.
The cathedral has three bells, all of which are housed in the southeast tower. They were cast in 1947 by Albert Junker to replace the old sound of the four bells destroyed in World War II.
Trinity Church, Worms
The Holy Trinity Church (German: "Dreifaltigkeitskirche") is the largest Protestant church in Worms, Germany. It was built between 1701 and 1717. The baroque hall building is centrally located on the market square and is very close to the cathedral.
Hammer Bro.
Hammer Bro., also called Hammer Brothers or Hammer Bros., is an enemy from the "Mario" series of video games. It is a type of Koopa Troopa that walks on two feet and attacks by throwing hammers at the player character. There are different types of Hammer Bro. that are named after the attack that they use, such as the Boomerang Bro. and the Fire Bro. The Hammer Bro. has appeared in many "Mario" games since its first appearance in "Super Mario Bros.", including spin-off games such as the "Mario Party" games.
Rassilon
Rassilon is a fictional character in the British television series "Doctor Who". He is the founder of the Time Lords.
Greg Montgomery
Greg Montgomery (October 29, 1964 – August 23, 2020) was an American football punter. He played nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played for the Houston Oilers from 1988 to 1993, Detroit Lions in 1994 and the Baltimore Ravens from 1996 to 1997.
Montgomery was born in Morristown, New Jersey.
He was drafted out of Michigan State University by the Houston Oilers in 1988. He retired in 1997. He was on the All-Time team for Michigan State University.