Completeness of the Gaia-verse - IV. The astrometry spread function of Gaia DR2

Gaia Data Release 2 (DR2) published positions, parallaxes, and proper motions for an unprecedented 1331 909 727 sources, revolutionizing the field of Galactic dynamics. We complement this data with the astrometry spread function (ASF), the expected uncertainty in the measured positions, proper motions, and parallax for a non-accelerating point source. The ASF is a Gaussian function for which we construct the 5D astrometric covariance matrix as a function of position on the sky and apparent magnitude using the Gaia DR2 scanning law and demonstrate excellent agreement with the observed data. This can be used to answer the question 'What astrometric covariance would Gaia have published if my star was a non-accelerating point source?'. The ASF will enable characterization of binary systems, exoplanet orbits, astrometric microlensing events, and extended sources that add an excess astrometric noise to the expected astrometry uncertainty. By using the ASF to estimate the unit weight error of Gaia DR2 sources, we demonstrate that the ASF indeed provides a direct probe of the excess source noise. We use the ASF to estimate the contribution to the selection function of the Gala astrometric sample from a cut on ASTROMETRIC_STOMA5D_MAX showing high completeness for G < 20 dropping to < 1 per cent in underscanned regions of the sky for G = 21. We have added an ASF module to the PYTHON package SCANNINGLAW (https://github.com/gaiaverse/scanninglaw) through which users can access the ASF.

Automated summary

Gaia Data Release 2 (DR2) has revolutionized Galactic dynamics by providing positions, parallaxes, and proper motions for 1331 909 727 unprecedented sources. The astrometry spread function (ASF) offers a Gaussian function that can be used to characterize binary systems, exoplanet orbits, astrometric microlensing events, and extended sources. By estimating the unit weight error of Gaia DR2 sources through ASF, users can directly probe excess source noise and access the ASF module via the PYTHON package SCANNINGLAW.