Full-sky Astrometric Mapping Explorer (FAME)

Bill Jefferys is a co-Investigator on FAME, an astrometric satellite designed to determine with unprecedented accuracy the positions, distances, and motions of 40 million stars within our galactic neighborhood. FAME will measure stellar positions to less than 50 microarcseconds. (To put this angle in perspective, the width of a typical strand of human hair would subtend 50 microarcseconds if you were viewing it from a distance of 130-190 miles.) This poster nicely summarizes many of the FAME science goals. Unfortunately, the project was cancelled. Astrometrists can now ponder the surprises inherent in jumping from 200 microarcseconds to 1 microarcsecond precision (HST to SIM).