One month at L2 (interim status report)http://blogs.esa.int/gaia/2014/02/12/one-month-at-l2/
Funny how difficult is this science. I still don't quite understand how did they miscalculated the apparent magnitude by three orders of magnitude. Is that normal?
Quote from: baldusi on 04/25/2014 02:21 pmFunny how difficult is this science. I still don't quite understand how did they miscalculated the apparent magnitude by three orders of magnitude. Is that normal?Not quite by three orders of magnitude, although even three magnitudes is a lot...
Quote from: as58 on 04/25/2014 04:07 pmQuote from: baldusi on 04/25/2014 02:21 pmFunny how difficult is this science. I still don't quite understand how did they miscalculated the apparent magnitude by three orders of magnitude. Is that normal?Not quite by three orders of magnitude, although even three magnitudes is a lot...I've just seen the 2.5 multiplier in front of the Log10. I'm used to Ln or Log10, but 2.5 x Log10 seems... counter intuitive.
This isn't the first L2 mission they have. May be they never had to track optically? Change in MLI?
A series of exhaustive tests have been conducted over the past few months to characterise some anomalies that have been revealed during the commissioning of Gaia following its successful launch in December 2013
A comprehensive understanding of these issues will be given when a thorough analysis of all engineering tests is complete. Gaia has nearly completed its performance verification data taking, and is about to start a month-long dedicated science observation run. Once the data have been fully analysed, we will be able to provide a detailed quantitative assessment of the scientific performance of Gaia.While there will likely be some loss relative to Gaia’s pre-launch performance predictions, we already know that the scientific return from the mission will still be immense, revolutionising our understanding of the formation and evolution of our Milky Way galaxy and much else.
That's a lot of unexpected problems, though the science impact seems limited.