Ricky Smart (INAF) -- Gaia Frequently Asked Questions

Gaia with its second data release has provided a revolutionary new dataset that the community is just getting to know. Many questions have been raised, e.g., should the zero point parallax be applied? How should one convert parallaxes to distances? Why are 90% of the "nearby" stars incorrect? What are RR-Lyrae Galaxies? Are there binary stars? Are the errors reliable? What are the best quality cuts? Are there new systematics? Why are there HIPPARCOS stars missing from the matching tables? I will review the most frequently asked questions and then (attempt to) answer questions from the floor.