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European Space Agency to probe asteroid blind spot

15 April 2002

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Artist's impression on an asteroid impact with the Earth.

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Typical orbits for inner solar system asteroids

This artist's impression shows how the families of asteroids follow the orbits of their prototypes. Amors cross Mars’ orbit but do not cross Earth’s. It is the Apollo asteroids that cross Earth’s orbit. There are also the Atens. These asteroids spend most of their time inside Earth’s orbit, crossing it briefly before disappearing back into the glare of the Sun.

Credits: ESA 2002. Illustration by Medialab

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ESA's Gaia spacecraft will be ideally situated to probe the asteroid blind spot between the Sun and Earth. This artist's impression indicates how regions of the sky that are unobservable from Earth can be observed by Gaia.

Credits: ESA 2002. Illustration by Medialab

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Gaia will survey more than one billion stars, including many of the closest stars to the sun. Its goal is to make the largest, most precise map of where we live in space by surveying an unprecedented one per cent of our galaxy's population of 100 billion stars. The map is crucial to our modern understanding of the Milky Way, the galaxy in which we live. The reason is that, during the mapping, Gaia will detect the motion of each star in its orbit around the centre of the galaxy. Much of this motion was imparted upon each star during its birth and studying it allows astronomers to peer back in time, to when the galaxy was first forming.
By constructing this map of the stars, Gaia will help to uncover the mysteries surrounding how the Milky Way formed in the first place.

Credits: ESA-C.Vijoux

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