The Gaia mission, its legacy and beyond: present and future of Gravitational Astronomy

Abstract: How can 21st Fundamental Astronomy contribute to provide Humanity with the answers to the key questions: how did the Universe form and evolve? What is our place in it?
One way is to look for, and measure, the effects of Gravitation at all scales within The Milky Way (hence, Gravitational Astronomy), and then compare them to the predictions of current gravity theories and cosmological formation scenarios including stellar and planetary formation.
The talk will present some of the recent results in this area from the Gaia mission, and what can be anticipated of its coming deliveries.
Finally, the talk will also address what are the next technological challenges Astrometry faces to remain at the forefront of research in Physics and Astronomy in this century and beyond.

Short bio:  In permanent role as Astronomer at the Astronomical Observatory of Turin since 1987, from 1987 to 1989, he was Post-Doc of ESA at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore (USA). There, he becomes, as ESA Astronomer (until 1996) and then for NASA (to 1998), responsible for the scientific exploitation of the astrometric interferometer (Fine Guidance Sensor - FGS) on board HST.
From 1995 to 2002 he is Co-PI, with Barry M. Lasker (STScI), of the project that created the new Guide Star Catalog (GSC-II) for the operations of the Hubble, listing ~ one billion objects down to V = 20 and distributed over the entire celestial sphere. In the years 2000-2005 he is member of the VLTI Implementation Committee and, from 2001, of the VLTI Science Demonstration Time group for ESO. From 2015 to 2016 he is Visiting Prof. at the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), with an award from the President of CAS.
Since 2002, he holds the course of Astrometric Methods for Astrophysics (MAA) for the Master's Degree in Physics at UniTo, and since 2019 the short course in Astrometric Cosmology for the Advanced Master in Mathematical and Physical Methods for Space Science (MPMSS) at the same University.
Among the creators of the Gaia mission (1991), from 1997 to 2005 he is part of ESA’s Gaia Science Team, which led to the final approval of the Gaia mission (2002), and therefore to its implementation phase.
On behalf of both ASI and INAF, he is, since 2006, PI of the Italian participation in the Gaia Mission for the pan-European consortium DPAC (Data Processing and Analysis Consortium), which was entrusted by ESA with the task of processing and analyzing the data from the Gaia satellite (in orbit since Dec 19, 2013). In 2010, with M. Martino (of ALTEC s.p.a.), he designed the Italian Data Processing Center, or DPCT, housed in the ALTEC facilities, downtown Turin, of which he is ASI technical and scientific supervisor.
He has directed/directs both small and large national and international projects with budgets ranging from a few tens of thousands to several million Euro and involving collaborations with institutions such as ASI, MUR, MAECI in Italy, and, internationally, with CAS, ESA, ESO, STScI / NASA, JPL and with advanced space industries (TAS-I, Selex-Galileo, BOOSTEC-Fr, ALTEC, …).

Where: Accademia Pontaniana, Via Mezzocannone 8, 80134 Napoli NA. The colloquium will be also broadcast online, on Zoom.
How to join online: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84640651456?pwd=TlpSNkZKK25MVkxFdngySm1HZTh4QT09
Meeting ID: 846 4065 1456
Passcode: 656302

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