Gaia Early Data Release 3

Acceleration of the Solar System from Gaia astrometry^★

¹ Lohrmann Observatory, Technische Universität Dresden, Mommsenstraße 13, 01062 Dresden, Germany
² Université Côte d’Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Laboratoire Lagrange, Bd de l’Observatoire, CS 34229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, France
³ Lund Observatory, Department of Astronomy and Theoretical Physics, Lund University, Box 43, 22100 Lund, Sweden
⁴ Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Zentrum fôr Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg, Mönchhofstr. 12-14, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
⁵ European Space Agency (ESA), European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), Camino bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanizacion Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
⁶ Vitrociset Belgium for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanizacion Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
⁷ HE Space Operations BV for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanizacion Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
⁸ Telespazio Vega UK Ltd for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanizacion Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
⁹ Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Niels Bohrweg 2, 2333 CA Leiden, The Netherlands
¹⁰ INAF – Osservatorio astronomico di Padova, Vicolo Osservatorio 5, 35122 Padova, Italy
¹¹ European Space Agency (ESA), European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Keplerlaan 1, 2201AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands
¹² Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IPAG, 38000 Grenoble, France
¹³ GEPI, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, 5 Place Jules Janssen, 92190 Meudon, France
¹⁴ Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK
¹⁵ Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva, Chemin des Maillettes 51, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
¹⁶ Aurora Technology for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanizacion Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
¹⁷ Institut de Ciències del Cosmos (ICCUB), Universitat de Barcelona (IEEC-UB), Martí i Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
¹⁸ CNES Centre Spatial de Toulouse, 18 avenue Edouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
¹⁹ Institut d’Astronomie et d’Astrophysique, Université Libre de Bruxelles CP 226, Boulevard du Triomphe, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
²⁰ F.R.S.-FNRS, Rue d’Egmont 5, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
²¹ INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo Enrico Fermi 5, 50125 Firenze, Italy
²² Laboratoire d’astrophysique de Bordeaux, Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, B18N, allée Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 33615 Pessac, France
²³ Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
²⁴ Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St Mary, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6NT, UK
²⁵ INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, Via Osservatorio 20, 10025 Pino Torinese (TO), Italy
²⁶ University of Turin, Department of Physics, Via Pietro Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, Italy
²⁷ DAPCOM for Institut de Ciències del Cosmos (ICCUB), Universitat de Barcelona (IEEC-UB), Martí i Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
²⁸ Royal Observatory of Belgium, Ringlaan 3, 1180 Brussels, Belgium
²⁹ ALTEC S.p.a, Corso Marche, 79, 10146 Torino, Italy
³⁰ Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva, Chemin d’Ecogia 16, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
³¹ Sednai Sàrl, Geneva, Switzerland
³² Gaia DPAC Project Office, ESAC, Camino bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanizacion Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
³³ SYRTE, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, LNE, 61 avenue de l’Observatoire 75014 Paris, France
³⁴ National Observatory of Athens, I. Metaxa and Vas. Pavlou, Palaia Penteli, 15236 Athens, Greece
³⁵ IMCCE, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Univ. Lille, 77 av. Denfert-Rochereau, 75014 Paris, France
³⁶ INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania, Via S. Sofia 78, 95123 Catania, Italy
³⁷ Serco Gestión de Negocios for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanizacion Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
³⁸ INAF – Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna, Via Piero Gobetti 93/3, 40129 Bologna, Italy
³⁹ Institut d’Astrophysique et de Géophysique, Université de Liège, 19c, Allée du 6 Août, 4000 Liège, Belgium
⁴⁰ CRAAG – Centre de Recherche en Astronomie, Astrophysique et Géophysique, Route de l’Observatoire Bp 63 Bouzareah 16340 Algiers, Algeria
⁴¹ Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, UK
⁴² ATG Europe for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanizacion Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
⁴³ ETSE Telecomunicación, Universidade de Vigo, Campus Lagoas-Marcosende, 36310 Vigo, Galicia, Spain
⁴⁴ Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Observatoire astronomique de Strasbourg, UMR 7550, 11 rue de l’Université, 67000 Strasbourg, France
⁴⁵ Kavli Institute for Cosmology Cambridge, Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA, USA
⁴⁶ Department of Astrophysics, Astronomy and Mechanics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis, Zografos, 15783 Athens, Greece
⁴⁷ Observational Astrophysics, Division of Astronomy and Space Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, 751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
⁴⁸ Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP), An der Sternwarte 16, 14482 Potsdam, Germany
⁴⁹ CENTRA, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Edif. C8, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal
⁵⁰ Department of Informatics, Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, University of California, 5019 Donald Bren Hall, 92697-3440 CA Irvine, USA
⁵¹ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia “Ettore Majorana”, Università di Catania, Via S. Sofia 64, 95123 Catania, Italy
⁵² CITIC, Department of Nautical Sciences and Marine Engineering, University of A Coruña, Campus de Elviña s/n, 15071, A Coruña, Spain
⁵³ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Via Frascati 33, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone (Roma), Italy
⁵⁴ Space Science Data Center - ASI, Via del Politecnico SNC, 00133 Roma, Italy
⁵⁵ Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, PO Box 64, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
⁵⁶ Finnish Geospatial Research Institute FGI, Geodeetinrinne 2, 02430 Masala, Finland
⁵⁷ STFC, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell, Didcot, OX11 0QX, UK
⁵⁸ Institut UTINAM CNRS UMR6213, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, OSU THETA Franche-Comté Bourgogne, Observatoire de Besançon, BP1615, 25010 Besançon Cedex, France
⁵⁹ HE Space Operations BV for European Space Agency (ESA), Keplerlaan 1, 2201AZ, Noordwijk, The Netherlands
⁶⁰ Dpto. de Inteligencia Artificial, UNED, c/ Juan del Rosal 16, 28040 Madrid, Spain
⁶¹ Applied Physics Department, Universidade de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain
⁶² Thales Services for CNES Centre Spatial de Toulouse, 18 avenue Edouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
⁶³ Instituut voor Sterrenkunde, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200D, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
⁶⁴ Department of Astrophysics/IMAPP, Radboud University, PO Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands
⁶⁵ CITIC – Department of Computer Science and Information Technologies, University of A Coruña, Campus de Elviña s/n, 15071, A Coruña, Spain
⁶⁶ Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación, c/ Jordi Girona 29, Ed. Nexus II, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
⁶⁷ University of Vienna, Department of Astrophysics, Türkenschanzstraße 17, A1180 Vienna, Austria
⁶⁸ European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, 85748 Garching, Germany
⁶⁹ Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, Landleven 12, 9747 AD Groningen, The Netherlands
⁷⁰ School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
⁷¹ Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore MD, USA
⁷² GSFC - Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 698, 8800 Greenbelt Rd, 20771 MD Greenbelt, USA
⁷³ EURIX S.r.l., Corso Vittorio Emanuele II 61, 10128 Torino, Italy
⁷⁴ Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St., MS 15, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
⁷⁵ CAUP – Centro de Astrofisica da Universidade do Porto, Rua das Estrelas, Porto, Portugal
⁷⁶ SISSA – Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, Via Bonomea 265, 34136 Trieste, Italy
⁷⁷ Telespazio for CNES Centre Spatial de Toulouse, 18 avenue Edouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
⁷⁸ University of Turin, Department of Computer Sciences, Corso Svizzera 185, 10149 Torino, Italy
⁷⁹ Departamento de Matemática Aplicada y Ciencias de la Computación, Universite de Cantabria, ETS Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos, Avda. de los Castros s/n, 39005 Santander, Spain
⁸⁰ Centro de Astronomía - CITEVA, Universidad de Antofagasta, Avenida Angamos 601, Antofagasta 1270300, Chile
⁸¹ Vera C Rubin Observatory, 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
⁸² Centre for Astrophysics Research, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, AL10 9AB, Hatfield, UK
⁸³ University of Antwerp, Onderzoeksgroep Toegepaste Wiskunde, Middelheimlaan 1, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium
⁸⁴ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico d’Abruzzo, Via Mentore Maggini, 64100 Teramo, Italy
⁸⁵ Instituto de Astronomia, Geofìsica e Ciências Atmosféricas, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão, 1226, Cidade Universitaria, 05508-900 São Paulo, SP, Brazil
⁸⁶ Mésocentre de calcul de Franche-Comté, Université de Franche-Comté, 16 route de Gray, 25030 Besançon Cedex, France
⁸⁷ SRON, Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Sorbonnelaan 2, 3584CA, Utrecht, The Netherlands
⁸⁸ RHEA for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanizacion Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
⁸⁹ ATOS for CNES Centre Spatial de Toulouse, 18 avenue Edouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
⁹⁰ School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
⁹¹ Astrophysics Research Centre, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK
⁹² Centre de Données Astronomique de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
⁹³ Université Côte d’Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Laboratoire Géoazur, Bd de l’Observatoire, CS 34229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, France
⁹⁴ Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße 1, 85748 Garching, Germany
⁹⁵ APAVE SUDEUROPE SAS for CNES Centre Spatial de Toulouse, 18 avenue Edouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
⁹⁶ Área de Lenguajes y Sistemas Informáticos, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Ctra. de Utrera, km 1. 41013 Sevilla, Spain
⁹⁷ Onboard Space Systems, Luleå University of Technology, Box 848, 981 28 Kiruna, Sweden
⁹⁸ TRUMPF Photonic Components GmbH, Lise-Meitner-Straße 13, 89081 Ulm, Germany
⁹⁹ IAC - Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Via Láctea s/n, 38200 La Laguna S.C., Tenerife, Spain
¹⁰⁰ Department of Astrophysics, University of La Laguna, Via Láctea s/n, 38200 La Laguna S.C., Tenerife, Spain
¹⁰¹ Laboratoire Univers et Particules de Montpellier, CNRS Université Montpellier, Place Eugène Bataillon, CC72, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 05, France
¹⁰² LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université de Paris, 5 Place Jules Janssen, 92190 Meudon, France
¹⁰³ Villanova University, Department of Astrophysics and Planetary Science, 800 E Lancaster Avenue, Villanova PA 19085, USA
¹⁰⁴ Astronomical Observatory, University of Warsaw, Al. Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warszawa, Poland
¹⁰⁵ Laboratoire d’astrophysique de Bordeaux, Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, B18N, allée Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 33615 Pessac, France
¹⁰⁶ Université Rennes, CNRS, IPR (Institut de Physique de Rennes) - UMR 6251, 35000 Rennes, France
¹⁰⁷ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Via Moiariello 16, 80131 Napoli, Italy
¹⁰⁸ Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
¹⁰⁹ Las Cumbres Observatory, 6740 Cortona Drive Suite 102, Goleta, CA 93117, USA
¹¹⁰ Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, 146 Brownlow Hill, Liverpool L3 5RF, UK
¹¹¹ IPAC, Mail Code 100-22, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
¹¹² Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, M/S 169-327, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
¹¹³ IRAP, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, CNES, 9 Av. colonel Roche, BP 44346, 31028 Toulouse Cedex 4, France
¹¹⁴ Konkoly Observatory, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, MTA Centre of Excellence, Konkoly Thege Miklós út 15-17, 1121 Budapest, Hungary
¹¹⁵ MTA CSFK Lendület Near-Field Cosmology Research Group, Konkoly Observatory, CSFK, Konkoly Thege Miklós út 15-17, 1121 Budapest, Hungary
¹¹⁶ ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Institute of Physics, 1117, Pázmány Péter sétány 1A, Budapest, Hungary
¹¹⁷ Ruđer Bošković Institute, Bijenička cesta 54, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
¹¹⁸ Institute of Theoretical Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic
¹¹⁹ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, via E. Bianchi 46, 23807 Merate (LC), Italy
¹²⁰ AKKA for CNES Centre Spatial de Toulouse, 18 avenue Edouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
¹²¹ Departmento de Física de la Tierra y Astrofísica, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
¹²² Department of Astrophysical Sciences, 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton University, Princeton NJ 08544, USA
¹²³ Departamento de Astrofísica, Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA), ESA-ESAC. Camino Bajo del Castillo s/n 28692 Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain
¹²⁴ naXys, University of Namur, Rempart de la Vierge, 5000 Namur, Belgium
¹²⁵ EPFL – Ecole Polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Institute of Mathematics, Station 8 EPFL SB MATH SDS, Lausanne, Switzerland
¹²⁶ H H Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TL, UK
¹²⁷ Sorbonne Université, CNRS, UMR7095, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, 98bis bd. Arago, 75014 Paris, France
¹²⁸ Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
¹²⁹ Laboratoire Univers et Particules de Montpellier, Université Montpellier, Place Eugène Bataillon, CC72, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 05, France
¹³⁰ Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana, Jadranska ulica 19, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Received: 21 October 2020
Accepted: 30 November 2020

Abstract

Context. Gaia Early Data Release 3 (Gaia EDR3) provides accurate astrometry for about 1.6 million compact (QSO-like) extragalactic sources, 1.2 million of which have the best-quality five-parameter astrometric solutions.

Aims. The proper motions of QSO-like sources are used to reveal a systematic pattern due to the acceleration of the solar systembarycentre with respect to the rest frame of the Universe. Apart from being an important scientific result by itself, the acceleration measured in this way is a good quality indicator of the Gaia astrometric solution.

Methods. Theeffect of the acceleration was obtained as a part of the general expansion of the vector field of proper motions in vector spherical harmonics (VSH). Various versions of the VSH fit and various subsets of the sources were tried and compared to get the most consistent result and a realistic estimate of its uncertainty. Additional tests with the Gaia astrometric solution were used to get a better idea of the possible systematic errors in the estimate.

Results. Our best estimate of the acceleration based on Gaia EDR3 is (2.32 ± 0.16) × 10⁻¹⁰ m s⁻² (or 7.33 ±0.51 km s⁻¹ Myr−1) towards α = 269.1° ± 5.4°, δ = −31.6° ± 4.1°, corresponding to a proper motion amplitude of 5.05 ±0.35 μas yr⁻¹. This is in good agreement with the acceleration expected from current models of the Galactic gravitational potential. We expect that future Gaia data releases will provide estimates of the acceleration with uncertainties substantially below 0.1 μas yr⁻¹.