The European Southern Observatory (ESO, European Southern Observatory) spoke about the implementation of a large-scale project to form the largest and most accurate three-dimensional map of our galaxy in history.
A detailed map covering more than a billion stars in the Milky Way is being created using data from the Gaia spacecraft, launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) back in 2013. More than 1700 scientific articles have already been published based on information from this orbiting telescope.
To achieve high accuracy of the generated star map, it is critical to accurately determine the position of the spacecraft relative to the Earth. So while the instruments aboard Gaia are scanning the sky to collect data for a "census" of the stellar population, astronomers are tracking the ship's position with optical telescopes.
In particular, the ESO VST Survey Telescope (VLT Survey Telescope) at the observatory on Mount Paranal helps to control the position of the apparatus. The VST is now the world's largest optical survey telescope. It registers the position of Gaia among the stars every other night during the year.
The observations made on the VST are used by ESA's flight dynamics specialists, who monitor and correct Gaia's orbit and continuously refine its parameters. This helps in producing the most accurate star map in history.
Source: 3dnews.ru