360º Parallax and proper motion on the sky

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A 360° animated view of the entire sky on 25 April 2018.

After a few seconds, the stars start moving in the sky according to parallax, an apparent shift caused by Earth’s yearly motion around the Sun. Then, constellation outlines appear as visual aids. Finally, stars start moving according to their true motion through space, which is visible on the sky as proper motion. Parallaxes have been exaggerated by 100 000 and proper motions have been speeded up by one trillion (10^12) to make them visible in this animation. This animation is based on data from the second data release of ESA’s Gaia satellite, which has measured the positions, parallaxes and motions of more than one billion stars across the sky to unprecedented accuracy.

ESA/Gaia/DPAC, CC BY SA 3.0 IGO

Acknowledgement: Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC); Gaia Sky; S. Jordan / T. Sagristà, Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg, Germany

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12 Comments

  1. I always thought most of the stars were mostly going more-or-less in a similar direction (rotation of the galaxy); I was surprised to see how random they all are, going every which way. Mesmerizing!

  2. Actually, when you consider the scales involved, it's surprising how much movement there is.
    Imagine the solar system so small, the Earth's orbital diameter is only a few millimeters across. The next closest star, Proxima Centauri, would be almost 200 meters away. SO the parallax caused by Earth's orbit is incredibly tiny, but measurable to at least the closer stars and objects.

  3. So if the parallax is 2 AU, and this is 100,000x that, then 200,000AU = ~3 light years. This is like seeing the constellations while moving around the sun at a distance of 1.5LY.

  4. This animation was made with the open source computer program Gaia Sky, developed in Heidelberg, Germany. It shows the Sky as measured with the Hipparcos and Gaia satellites (using Gaia's second star catalogue published on April 25, 2018). Gaia measures the parallaxes (the apparent motion of the stars due to the anual movement of the Earth around the Sun and the finate distance of the stars) and the proper motions of the stars.

    If parallaxes and proper motions were 100,000 times larger than in reality they would be easy to observe. At the end of the video it is shown how the stars would move on the sky if they were one trillion times faster than in reality.

    Download of Gaia Sky: http://www.zah.uni-heidelberg.de/gaia/outreach/gaiasky

  5. I have a question which is about the Bauval Orion Correlation Theory: Everyone noticed that lining up the two large Pyramids with the stars of Alnitak and Alnilam, clearly appears that Mintaka don't fit, being too far, and the smaller pyramid of Menkaure would need to be moved by a few hundred meters to make it fit, and some used this as a proof for denying the theory.
    I consider correct the Orion correlation and i do not have the slightest doubt about the precision made by the Giza Complex builders. We know also that the stars are not so fixed as we suppose, they move at different speeds, according their distance from the center of the Galaxy, which is called "proper motion".
    Now, if Mintaka is slowly moving out from Alnitak and Alnilam how many years should have passed since they perfectly matched the three Pyramids on Earth? Is there someone who can calculate it? i'm too curious about it.

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