Gaia space telescope suffers excessive light problem
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.028525
New Scientist : Launched one year ago, the European Space Agency’s Gaia spacecraft has already experienced several problems , including excessive light entering the telescope. The reason is stray fibers around the edge of the Sun shield, which scatter the Sun’s rays into the shadow region behind the shield. Although the problem is not expected to worsen over time, it does affect Gaia‘s ability to detect the galaxy’s fainter objects. Astronomers remain optimistic concerning Gaia‘s mission, however. “We have already collected more spectra of stars than have ever been detected on the ground since we started doing astronomy,” says Anthony Brown at the Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands.
