Gaia Data Release 3

Catalogue validation

¹ Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IPAG, 38000 Grenoble, France
² GEPI, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, 5 Place Jules Janssen, 92190 Meudon, France
³ Dept. FQA, Institut de Ciències del Cosmos, Universitat de Barcelona (IEEC-UB), Martí i Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
⁴ Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, Landleven 12, 9747 AD, Groningen, The Netherlands
⁵ INAF - Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna, via Piero Gobetti 93/3, 40129 Bologna, Italy
⁶ Institut UTINAM, UMR 6213, CNRS, University of Bourgogne Franche-Comté, France, OSU THETA, 41 bis avenue de l’Observatoire, 25000 Besançon, France
⁷ Mésocentre de Franche-Comté, University of Franche-Comté, 16 route de Gray, 25030 Besançon Cedex, France
⁸ Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St., MS 15, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
⁹ INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo Osservatorio, Padova 35131, Italy
¹⁰ CITIC, Department of Computer Science and Information Technologies, University of A Coruña, Campus de Elviña s/n, 15071 A Coruña, Spain
¹¹ SYRTE, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, LNE, 61 avenue de l’Observatoire 75014 Paris, France
¹² Instituto de Astrofísica e Cióncias do Espaço, Universidade do Porto, CAUP, Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto, Portugal
¹³ INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, Via Osservatorio 20, 10025 Pino Torinese, Torino, Italy
¹⁴ LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Cité, 5 place Jules Janssen, 92195 Meudon, France
¹⁵ Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Niels Bohrweg 2, 2333 CA Leiden, The Netherlands
¹⁶ SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Niels Bohrweg 4, 2333 CA Leiden, The Netherlands
¹⁷ CITIC, Department of Nautical Sciences and Marine Engineering, University of A Coruña, Campus de Elviña S/N, 15071 A Coruña, Spain
¹⁸ Observatoire astronomique de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, 11 rue de l’Université, 67000 Strasbourg, France
¹⁹ Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany

Received: 14 April 2022
Accepted: 1 June 2022

Abstract

Context. The third Gaia data release (DR3) provides a wealth of new data products. The early part of the release, Gaia EDR3, already provided the astrometric and photometric data for nearly two billion sources. The full release now adds improved parameters compared to Gaia DR2 for radial velocities, astrophysical parameters, variability information, light curves, and orbits for Solar System objects. The improvements are in terms of the number of sources, the variety of parameter information, precision, and accuracy. For the first time, Gaia DR3 also provides a sample of spectrophotometry and spectra obtained with the Radial Velocity Spectrometer, binary star solutions, and a characterisation of extragalactic object candidates.

Aims. Before the publication of the catalogue, these data have undergone a dedicated transversal validation process. The aim of this paper is to highlight limitations of the data that were found during this process and to provide recommendations for the usage of the catalogue.

Methods. The validation was obtained through a statistical analysis of the data, a confirmation of the internal consistency of different products, and a comparison of the values to external data or models.

Results. Gaia DR3 is a new major step forward in terms of the number, diversity, precision, and accuracy of the Gaia products. As always in such a large and complex catalogue, however, issues and limitations have also been found. Detailed examples of the scientific quality of the Gaia DR3 release can be found in the accompanying data-processing papers as well as in the performance verification papers. Here we focus only on the caveats that the user should be aware of to scientifically exploit the data.