Gaia
====

-  *Gaia* is an ambitious mission to chart a three-dimensional map of
   our Galaxy, the Milky Way, in the process revealing the composition,
   formation and evolution of the Galaxy. *Gaia* will provide
   unprecedented positional and radial velocity measurements with the
   accuracies needed to produce a stereoscopic and kinematic census of
   about one billion stars in our Galaxy and throughout the Local Group.
   This amounts to about 1 per cent of the Galactic stellar population.

-  Right now we are at *Gaia* DR2 (06/2019)

Basic Information:
------------------

-  `Gaia website at ESA <http://sci.esa.int/gaia/>`__
-  `Gaia data and tools summary
   page <https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/data>`__
-  All data are available from the ESA `Gaia Data
   Archive <http://gea.esac.esa.int/archive/>`__

   -  Also at `Gaia at CDS <http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/gaia>`__; `Gaia
      at ARI <http://gaia.ari.uni-heidelberg.de/>`__; `Gaia at
      AIP <https://gaia.aip.de/>`__; and `Gaia at
      ASDC <http://gaiaportal.asdc.asi.it/>`__
   -  And all *Gaia* data can be directly downloaded from `here in .csv
      format <http://cdn.gea.esac.esa.int/Gaia/>`__

Data Release:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-  `Gaia Data Release
   1 <http://sci.esa.int/gaia/58275-data-release-1/>`__
-  `Gaia Data Release
   2 <http://sci.esa.int/gaia/60243-data-release-2/>`__

   -  `Online
      documents <http://gea.esac.esa.int/archive/documentation/GDR2/index.html>`__
   -  `Gaia DR2 data
      models <http://gea.esac.esa.int/archive/documentation/GDR2/Gaia_archive/chap_datamodel/>`__
   -  `Gaia DR2 known
      issues <https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/dr2-known-issues>`__
   -  `Official tutorials to use Gaia DR2
      data <http://gea.esac.esa.int/archive-help/index.html>`__
   -  `Video guide for
      scientists <https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/guide-to-scientists#video6>`__

Using *Gaia* Data
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-  `Estimating distances from parallaxes. IV. Distances to 1.33 billion
   stars in Gaia data release
   2 <http://www.mpia.de/~calj/gdr2_distances/main.html>`__

   -  The “BailerJones” catalog of distance.

-  `Tutorials on the use of (Gaia) astrometry in astronomical data
   analysis or inference
   problems <https://github.com/agabrown/astrometry-inference-tutorials>`__

   -  By Anthony Brown. This is a **must read**
   -  Also see his `example of the construction of a sample of sources
      from Gaia DR2 with all recommend data quality filtering
      applied <https://github.com/agabrown/gaiadr2-6dgold-example>`__
   -  And `Python code for calculating the Renormalized Unit Weight
      Error from the Gaia DR2 table
      columns <https://github.com/agabrown/gaiadr2-ruwe-tools>`__

-  Slides about `Gaia DR2
   astrometry <https://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/29201/1770596/Lindegren_GaiaDR2_Astrometry_extended.pdf/1ebddb25-f010-6437-cb14-0e360e2d9f09>`__
-  Slides about `Working with Gaia
   Data <https://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/915837/915858/2016_11_02_dr1Workshop_AlcioneMora.pdf/39b2492b-e74c-4b28-bd1f-71258b25fd08>`__
-  The *Gaia* TAP+ catalog can be accessed through **astroquery.gaia**
   module. Here is a `Python example for
   DR2 <https://gea.esac.esa.int/archive-help/tutorials/python_cluster/index.html>`__
-  `Exploring Gaia data with TOPCAT and
   STILTS <http://www.euro-vo.org/sites/default/files/documents/tutorial-topcat-stilts_2018Nov.pdf>`__
-  `Gaia-Kepler.fun <https://gaia-kepler.fun/>`__

   -  This website provides cross-matched catalogs of Gaia data for
      stars observed by Kepler/K2

Social Media
~~~~~~~~~~~~

-  [Twitter handle: @ESAGaia](https://twitter.com/ESAGaia)

Important Documents:
--------------------

Special Issues:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-  There are too many important publications about the *Gaia* mission,
   instrument, data reduction, and data release. Most of these
   “official” publications are compiled into two special issues of the
   Astronomy & Astrophysics:

   -  `A&A Special Issue: Gaia Data Release
      1 <https://www.aanda.org/component/toc/?task=topic&id=641>`__
   -  `A&A Special Issue: Gaia Data Release
      2 <https://www.aanda.org/component/toc/?task=topic&id=922>`__

Important Publications:
-----------------------

-  For using DR2 data, the most important ones are:

   -  `Gaia Data Release
      2 <https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/pdf/2018/08/aa33955-18.pdf>`__
   -  `Gaia Data Release 2 - Summary of the contents and survey
      properties <https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/pdf/2018/08/aa33051-18.pdf>`__
   -  `Gaia Data Release 2 - Using Gaia
      parallaxes <https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/pdf/2018/08/aa32964-18.pdf>`__
   -  `Gaia Data Release 2 - Cross-match with external catalogues:
      algorithms and
      results <https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/pdf/2019/01/aa34142-18.pdf>`__

Softwares and Tools:
--------------------

-  `PyGaia - Python toolkit for basic Gaia data simulation,
   manipulation, and analysis <https://github.com/agabrown/PyGaia>`__

   -  By Anthony Brown. PyGaia provides python modules for the
      simulation of Gaia data and their errors, as well modules for the
      manipulation and analysis of the Gaia catalogue data

-  [__gaia_tools_\_ - Tools for working with the @ESAGaia data and
   related data sets](https://github.com/jobovy/gaia_tools)

   -  By Jo Bovy. Tools for working with the ESA/Gaia data and related
      data sets (APOGEE, GALAH, LAMOST DR2, and RAVE).

-  `GaiaTools - A collection of scripts for analyzing the data from the
   Gaia
   satellite <https://github.com/GalacticDynamics-Oxford/GaiaTools>`__

   -  By the Oxford’s Galactic Dynamics group.

-  `Gaia TAP+ through
   astroquery.gaia <https://astroquery.readthedocs.io/en/latest/gaia/gaia.html>`__
-  `find_gaia_dr2.py <http://cds.u-strasbg.fr/resources/doku.php?id=cdsclient:doc-find_gaia_dr2>`__

   -  By CDS. Depends on **python-cdsclient**

-  `Gaia Sky - a real-time, 3D, astronomy visualisation
   software <https://zah.uni-heidelberg.de/institutes/ari/gaia/outreach/gaiasky/>`__

Conferences and Sprints
-----------------------

-  `Gaia Sprints <http://gaia.lol/>`__

   -  A project to support exploration and scientific use of the Gaia
      Data Releases.
   -  There are a lot of interesting discussions and ideas can be found
      in the sprint website.

-  `KITP Project 2019: Dynamical Models for Stars and Gas in Galaxies in
   the Gaia Era <https://www.kitp.ucsb.edu/activities/gaia19>`__

   -  Most of the `talks can be found on
      line <http://online.kitp.ucsb.edu/online/gaia19/>`__
   -  There is also a associated conference: `In the Balance: Stasis and
      Disequilibrium in the Milky
      Way <https://www.kitp.ucsb.edu/activities/gaia-c19>`__

-  `Gaia Data Workshop - Heidelberg
   2018 <http://gaia.ari.uni-heidelberg.de/gaia-workshop-2018/>`__

   -  A lot of useful slides are available here.

-  `Gaia Data Release 2 London
   workshop <https://www.gaia.ac.uk/science/workshops/gaia-dr2-london-may18>`__

-  `49th Saas-Fee Advanced Course - The Milky Way in the Gaia
   Era <https://www.physik.uzh.ch/events/sf2019/>`__

   -  Video lectures and course materials are available.