DPAC Outreach

  
A collection of materials, projects and events developed and/or supported by individuals, universities, institutes, agencies and observatories involved in the Gaia mission.  
   
Stellar Parallaxes - How to measure stellar distances with the Gaia satellite 30/08/2016
This video explains how stellar distances are measured with the Gaia satellite using the parallax method. The first Gaia catalogue will be published on 14 September 2016 and will contain about 2 million parallaxes and proper motions of stars additionally to the 1 billion stellar positions. Even the first Gaia catalogue will be the most precise star catalogue ever. The video, produced by Stefan Jordan, is available on YouTube. Subtitles are available in German, Spanish and Catalan.  
 
   
GENIUS Documentary: Gaia - Teamwork For A Billion Stars 21/04/2016
Stefan Jordan and Klaus Jäger, with financial support from the FP7 Gaia-GENIUS project, produced the 50-minute video documentary "Gaia - Teamwork for a billion stars" during the DPAC consortium meeting which took place in Leiden in November 2015. The video is available on YouTube.  
 
   
Gaia poetry 12/11/2015
A poem about Gaia by George Seabroke was published in Laboratorio: Poems from the Mullard Space Science Laboratory.

    Twinkle, twinkle little star,
    how I wonder where you are.
    ESA hoovers up your light
    with our Gaia satellite…		  
   
Postcards from the Edge of the Universe 21/10/2015
From sunspots to black holes, planets around other stars, supernovae and dark matter, Postcards from the Edge of the Universe unveils the mysteries of today's research, looking at cutting-edge astronomy from around the world. Twenty-four frontline astronomers from all corners of the globe explain their science. The ESO publication contains a contribution by DPAC member Alberto Krone-Martins. His chapter is available here.  
   
Gaia movie – impressions from the AGIS meeting in Heidelberg 05/06/2015
On 8 - 10 April 2015, 22 members of the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC) met at the Centre for Astronomy of the University of Heidelberg to discuss the current status of AGIS. AGIS is the Astrometric Global Iterative Solution, a mathematical procedure that will determine the positions, movements and distances of about one billion stars from the individual measurements of the Gaia satellite.

This DPAC outreach video, produced by Klaus Jäger and Stefan Jordan, uses footage from the AGIS meeting, explaining the Gaia mission and its goals. The movie contains interviews with Lennart Lindegren, the intellectual father of AGIS, Uwe Lammers, the Gaia Science Operations Manager, and Ulrich Bastian, the scientific manager of the Gaia core processing. These three scientists explain what AGIS is and what its challenges are. They describe the progress of  the AGIS development which will finally result in the most accurate star catalogue ever.

A German version of the movie is available here. For the English version, visit this YouTube page.		  
 
   
The Meaning of Light 11/05/2015
The motion comic ​​"The Meaning of Light" was created by OATo-INAF for the launch of the Gaia satellite in 2013. Recently a theme song, "Singing the Stars", was added to the film. The new version is available on the INAF website.  
 
   
Google Hangout - Minor bodies: threat or opportunity? 11/09/2014
DPAC member Paolo Tanga participated in a Google Hangout during the European Planetary Science Conference (EPSC2014) in Lisbon. Watch the recording below.  
 
   
Gaia at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2014 14/05/2014
Video about Gaia produced by The Royal Society for the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2014  
 
   
Gaia video in Czech 03/02/2014
This Czech-language film describes the Gaia mission and the country's involvement in it. The film was produced by the Czech Academy of Sciences.  
 
   
Gaia in one minute cartoons - Cambridge 28/01/2014
The Gaia team in Cambridge, in cooperation with Angel Eye Media, has produced a series of cartoons about Gaia. Watch the videos here.   
 
   
Italian launch event on YouTube 20/12/2013
The Italian launch event at Altec on YouTube.  
 
   
"The Meaning of Light" - Promotional video 19/12/2013

A video promoting the Italian-made animation "The Meaning of Light".

Credits: created by M.Crosta (OATo-INAF), produced by Maga Animation Studio (ASI contract I/58/10/0 P.I. M. Lattanzi)

  
 
   
Gaia's mission: solving the celestial puzzle 19/12/2013
20-minute video produced by Cambridge's Institute of Astronomy.  
 
   
Gaia teaching resources in German 13/12/2013
A selection of German-language teaching resources is available on the WIS website.  
 
   
Gaia UB: launch animation 26/09/2013
This launch animation was produced by the University of Barcelona's Gaia team. Additonal videos are available on the Gaia UB YouTube channel.