Contents

• Introduction
• 1. The Historical Context of the GAIA Mission
  • 1.1 The Advantages of Space Astronomy
  • 1.2 The Hipparcos Mission
  • 1.3 The Birth and Development of the GAIA Concept
  • 1.4 GAIA and the Near Future of Space Astrometry
• 2. The GAIA Mission Design
  • 2.1 The Measurement Principle and the Scanning Law
  • 2.2 The Spacecraft
  • 2.3 The Service Module
  • 2.4 The Payload Module
    • 2.4.1 The Astrometric Instruments
    • 2.4.2 The Spectrometric Instrument
  • 2.5 The Satellite Launch, Orbit and Operations
  • 2.6 Data Handling
  • 2.7 Expected Measurement Capabilities
  • 2.8 Overall Scientific Objectives
• 3. Scientific Case for Galaxy Observations with GAIA
  • 3.1 Galactic and Extragalactic Astronomy
  • 3.2 Galaxy Surface Photometry
    • 3.2.1 Flat-Fielding
    • 3.2.2 Sky Background
    • 3.2.3 Point Spread Function and Seeing
  • 3.3 The GAIA Galaxy Survey
    • 3.3.1 Spatial Distribution of Galaxies with GAIA
    • 3.3.2 Galaxy Surface Photometry with GAIA
• 4. Statistical Model of Galaxies
  • 4.1 Morphological Classification
  • 4.2 Number Counts
  • 4.3 Angular Size
  • 4.4 Surface Brightness Distribution
    • 4.4.1 Elliptical Galaxies
    • 4.4.2 Disk Galaxies
  • 4.5 Model's Validity and Verifications
• 5. Detection and Observation of Galaxies with GAIA
  • 5.1 Detection and Observation
  • 5.2 Detection and Observation of Galaxies
  • 5.3 Statistical Formulae
  • 5.4 Sensitivity of the Astros
  • 5.5 Sky Background and Readnoise
  • 5.6 Expected Number of Detected Galaxies
  • 5.7 Expected Accuracy in Surface Photometry
  • 5.8 Expected Telemetry Rate
• 6. Simulation and Stacking of GAIA Observations
  • 6.1 HST WFPC2 images
  • 6.2 GAIA BBP vs HST WFPC2
    • 6.2.1 Photoelectron Count Rate
    • 6.2.2 Point Spread Function
    • 6.2.3 Noise
  • 6.3 Simulation of GAIA BBP Observations
  • 6.4 Stacking of GAIA BBP Observations
• 7. A Case Study: The M100 Spiral Galaxy
  • 7.1 HST WFPC2 Image
  • 7.2 GAIA BBP Flux Maps
  • 7.3 Angular Resolution of GAIA BBP Flux Maps
  • 7.4 Angular Resolution and Number of Scans
  • 7.5 Angular Resolution and Non-Random Scan Directions
  • 7.6 Accuracy in Surface Photometry
  • 7.7 Accuracy in Aperture Photometry
• Conclusions
• A. Units of Measure, Conversion Factors and Formulae
  • A.1 Angular Quantities
  • A.2 Photometric Quantities
• B. The Historical Development of Astrometry
• C. ESA and Space Science
• D. Galaxy Surface Brightness Radial Profiles
  • D.1 Sersic Law
  • D.2 Bulge Profile
  • D.3 Disk Profile
  • D.4 Bulge+Disk Profile
• E. HST Images and GAIA Simulated Flux Maps
  • E.1 M100
  • E.2 NGC3177
  • E.3 NGC3597
  • E.4 NGC6239
• F. Drizzling
• G. Software
  • G.1 SIM_STACK.PRO
  • G.2 STACK_BIS.PRO
  • G.3 STACK_TRIS.PRO
• Bibliography
• Acknowledgements/Ringraziamenti
• About this document ...