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| LAUNCH DATE: |
08-Aug-1989 23:25 UT
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| MISSION END: | Aug-1993 |
| LAUNCH VEHICLE: | Ariane-4 |
| LAUNCH MASS: | 500 kg |
| MISSION PHASE: |
Archive |
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Highly elliptical 10-hour orbit |
Hipparcos is the first space mission dedicated to measuring the positions of the stars.
Hipparcos helped to: - predict the impacts of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter
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identified stars that will pass close to the Sun
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established the distances of stars possessing planets
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discovered that the Milky Way is changing shape
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identified a group of stars that invaded our Galaxy when it was young
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altered the cosmic distance scale, making the Universe bigger and younger
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confirmed Einstein's prediction of the effect of gravity on starlight
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Unique to Europe was the very first space mission for measuring the positions, distances, motions, brightness and colours of stars - for astrometry, as the experts call it. ESA's Hipparcos satellite pinpointed more than 100 000 stars, 200 times more accurately than ever before. As astrometry has been the bedrock of the study of the Universe since ancient times, this leap forward has affected every branch of astronomy.
The primary product from this pioneering and successful mission was a set of stellar catalogues, The Hipparcos and Tycho Catalogues, published by ESA in 1997.
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