Hipparcos

Hipparcos was a European space mission launched in 1989 to measure the positions, distances, and movements of stars with high precision. Using a telescope aboard a satellite, it tracked over 100,000 stars to create a detailed star catalog. This improved our understanding of how stars are distributed in our galaxy and refined measurements of their distances. The data from Hipparcos has been essential for advances in astronomy, helping scientists study stellar evolution, the structure of the Milky Way, and calibrate other astronomical measurements. It was the first space-based project dedicated specifically to star cataloging, significantly enhancing the accuracy of stellar data.