Gaia End-of-Life Tests

Before Gaia shuts down for good in early 2025, it will undergo a series of tests, called "End of Life" tests. These cannot be performed during normal operations, due to their disruptive nature. However they are vital for understanding certain aspects of a satellite, and to learn for future missions. One of these tests involves slewing the Gaia spacecraft to different solar aspect angles (the solar aspect angle is the angle between the rotational axis of Gaia and the line Sun -- Gaia). This means that - as seen from Earth - for a brief period of time Gaia will become much brighter than normal, putting it in reach of medium to larger amateur telescopes.
 

This site will provide resources and links about how and when  to observe Gaia, during this farewell part of its mission.

 

USEFUL LINKS AND DOWNLOADS

• Public Gaia ephemeris service: http://gaiainthesky.obspm.fr/index_gaia.php?page=FOV&sous_menu=public
  This link leads to an online tool which can derive topocentric ephemerides for every city worldwide above 100,000 inhabitants. This server is updated on a weekly basis.
• Provisional schedule for end-of-life tests in January and February. This schedule may still change before January 2025 due to the still ongoing planning of the campaign, and it may need changes during the campaign if anything does not run in the foreseen way. It is therefore recommended to briefly check the schedule before embarking on actual observations of the Gaia spacecraft.