The first precise catalogue of the exact positions, distances, motions and brightness of 118,000 stars in the night sky has been published by the European Space Agency (ESA) which co-hosts a pavilion at the Show with the British National Space Centre.

The catalogue was derived from precise measurements made by the space agency's Hipparcos spacecraft which has just been retired after seven years of service, says ESA.

Using the range-finding technique called parallax, the craft discovered thousands of new double and multi-star systems that had not been detected before from Earth-based observations.

 

 

Source: Flight Daily News