Gaia Early Data Release 3: Acceleration of the solar system from Gaia astrometry

Autor(en)
, S. A. Klioner, F. Mignard, L. Lindegren, U. Bastian, P. J. McMillan, J. Hernández, D. Hobbs, M. Ramos-Lerate, M. Biermann, A. Bombrun, A. De Torres, E. Gerlach, R. Geyer, T. Hilger, U. Lammers, H. Steidelmüller, C. A. Stephenson, A. G.A. Brown, A. Vallenari, T. Prusti, J. H.J. De Bruijne, C. Babusiaux, O. L. Creevey, D. W. Evans, L. Eyer, A. Hutton, F. Jansen, C. Jordi, X. Luri, C. Panem, D. Pourbaix, S. Randich, P. Sartoretti, C. Soubiran, N. A. Walton, F. Arenou, C. A.L. Bailer-Jones, M. Cropper, R. Drimmel, D. Katz, M. G. Lattanzi, F. Van Leeuwen, J. Bakker, J. Castañeda, F. De Angeli, C. Ducourant, C. Fabricius, D. Hestroffer, J. Alves, T. Lebzelter
Abstrakt

Context. Gaia Early Data Release 3 (Gaia EDR3) provides accurate astrometry for about 1.6 million compact (QSO-like) extragalactic sources, 1.2 million of which have the best-quality five-parameter astrometric solutions.

Aims. The proper motions of QSO-like sources are used to reveal a systematic pattern due to the acceleration of the solar systembarycentre with respect to the rest frame of the Universe. Apart from being an important scientific result by itself, the acceleration measured in this way is a good quality indicator of the Gaia astrometric solution.

Methods. Theeffect of the acceleration was obtained as a part of the general expansion of the vector field of proper motions in vector spherical harmonics (VSH). Various versions of the VSH fit and various subsets of the sources were tried and compared to get the most consistent result and a realistic estimate of its uncertainty. Additional tests with the Gaia astrometric solution were used to get a better idea of the possible systematic errors in the estimate.

Results. Our best estimate of the acceleration based on Gaia EDR3 is (2.32 ± 0.16) × 10−10 m s−2 (or 7.33 ±0.51 km s−1 Myr−1) towards α = 269.1° ± 5.4°, δ = −31.6° ± 4.1°, corresponding to a proper motion amplitude of 5.05 ±0.35 μas yr−1. This is in good agreement with the acceleration expected from current models of the Galactic gravitational potential. We expect that future Gaia data releases will provide estimates of the acceleration with uncertainties substantially below 0.1 μas yr−1.

Organisation(en)
Institut für Astrophysik
Externe Organisation(en)
Universitat de Barcelona, Universidad de Antofagasta, Instituto Nazionale die Astrofisica (INAF), Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia (UNED), Lund Observatory, University of Groningen, INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam, Leiden University, INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, European Space Research & Technology Centre (ESA/ESTEC), Laboratoire d'Écologie Alpine, Université de recherche Paris Sciences et Lettres, Universität Heidelberg, Université Côte d'Azur, University of Cambridge, Universität Genf, European Space Astronomy Centre (ESA), Technische Universität Dresden, Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), Université Libre de Bruxelles, Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique, INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Universität Bordeaux, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, University College London, Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC)
Journal
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Band
649
Anzahl der Seiten
19
ISSN
0004-6361
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202039734
Publikationsdatum
05-2021
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
103003 Astronomie, 103004 Astrophysik, 103038 Weltraumforschung
Schlagwörter
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Space and Planetary Science
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/4ac04e76-20d5-4636-a4b8-eb1d56040e9a