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3 years ago in Astrometry , Space Mission Operations By Khushboo Sharma
What are the expected timescales for improving GAIA astrometry and spectroscopy?
 I'm designing a decade-long program to study very subtle proper motions in stellar streams. My simulations show I need a factor of two improvement in proper motion precision over Gaia DR3. Is it reasonable to expect this from future data releases, and on what timeline, given the mission's extended operations and increasingly long baseline?
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By Pragna Answered 2 years ago
Based on my involvement with the data validation teams, the most dramatic improvements come from the sheer increase in observational baseline. The proper motion error scales roughly inversely with time baseline to the 1.5 power. So, comparing a 5-year baseline (DR3) to the expected 10-year baseline of the final catalog, you can reasonably anticipate a factor of ~3 improvement in proper motion precision. For spectroscopy, the gains are more incremental, relying on pipeline improvements for radial velocities and atmospheric parameter determination. I would plan your study for the post-2030 final Gaia catalog, where systematic errors will also be far better characterized.
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