EAS Tycho Brahe Prize Lecture 2011 - Hipparcos: a Retrospective
Publication date: 01 October 2011
Authors: Perryman, M.
Year: 2011
Copyright: Springer
Astro-ph preprint submitted on 30 September 2011.
The Hipparcos satellite was launched in 1989. It was the first, and remains to date the only, attempt at performing large-scale astrometric measurements from space. Hipparcos marked a fundamentally new approach to the field of astrometry, revolutionising our knowledge of the positions, distances, and space motions of the stars in the solar neighbourhood. In this retrospective, I look back at the processes which led to the mission's acceptance, provide a short summary of the underlying measurement principles and the experiment's scientific achievements, and a conclude with a brief summary of its principal legacy - the Gaia mission.
Published as: "EAS Tycho Brahe prize lecture 2011", The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review, Volume 19, Issue 1, December 2011, Article 45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00159-011-0045-5
Link to publication