“Biggest Digital Camera”, GAIA telescope, successfully delivered to L2 (Sun-Earth)

On Habré more than once they wrote about the GAIA space telescope, whose main task is to compile the most accurate map of the Milky Way. The telescope is also called the largest digital camera in the world due to its equipping with a 1 * 0.5 meter matrix, and a resolution of 938 MP.

On December 19, the device was launched from the Kourou Cosmodrome (French Guiana), and now the telescope has reached a calculated point located 1.5 million kilometers from our planet.



It is worth noting that the delivery of the telescope to the Lagrange point L2 of the Earth-Sun system was a rather difficult task. At the same time, it was necessary to “lead” the apparatus in a given direction and to protect the equipment from solar radiation.

Checking the operability of the device began on the way to the calculated point, but GAIA will enter 100% operational mode only after four months. The estimated life of the device is 5 years. The project team claims that over the five years the telescope will provide so much data that it takes extra time to process it. Of course, all these data will be able to serve the benefit of science.



Via esa