ESA Science & Technology - Gaia
A 500-day global observation campaign spearheaded more than three years ago by ESA’s galaxy-mapping powerhouse Gaia has provided unprecedented insights into the binary system of stars that caused an unusual brightening of an even more distant star.
ESA Science & Technology - Fact Sheet - European Space Agency
Gaia was adopted within the scientific programme of the European Space Agency (ESA) in October 2000. The mission aims to: measure the positions of about 1 billion stars both in our Galaxy and other members of the Local Group, with an accuracy down to 24 microarcseconds; perform spectral and photometric measurements of all objects
ESA Science & Technology - Gaia creates richest star map of our …
Apr 25, 2018 · ESA's Gaia mission has produced the richest star catalogue to date, including high-precision measurements of nearly 1.7 billion stars and revealing previously unseen details of our home Galaxy.
ESA Science & Technology - Summary - European Space Agency
Sep 1, 2019 · The main goal of the Gaia mission is to make the largest, most precise three-dimensional map of our Galaxy by surveying an unprecedented one per cent of the galaxy's population of 100 billion stars. Navigation
ESA Science & Technology - Objectives - European Space Agency
Gaia is designed with a single, primary goal in mind: to investigate the origin and subsequent evolution of our Galaxy, the Milky Way. To do this, it will conduct an astronomical census of 1 billion stars, allowing astronomers to build the most accurate three-dimensional map to date of the celestial objects in our Galaxy.
ESA Science & Technology - Gaia mission - European Space Agency
ESA's Gaia mission has one main goal, to map the Milky Way more extensively and with greater precision than any other mission to date. Using astrometry, the science of measuring the distance and motion of stars, Gaia will map a billion stars over a 5 year period to produce a comprehensive catalogue of measurements that will impact on most areas ...
ESA Science & Technology - Spacecraft - European Space Agency
Sep 1, 2019 · The Gaia spacecraft is comprised of three major functional modules: The Payload Module containing the optical instrument and all electronics required to manage its operation and process its raw data.
ESA Science & Technology - Exoplanets - European Space Agency
With its all-sky survey of the position, brightness and motion of over one billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy, Gaia will provide a large dataset to search for exoplanets – planets orbiting stars other than the Sun.
ESA Science & Technology - Towards the final Gaia catalogue
Oct 5, 2020 · In the 2020s, the final Gaia catalogue will be published. This will be the definitive stellar catalogue for the foreseeable future, playing a central role in many and varied fields of astronomy.
ESA Science & Technology - Rethinking everything we thought we …
Feb 26, 2019 · ESA's Gaia satellite was launched in 2013 to create the most precise three-dimensional map of more than one billion stars in the Milky Way. The mission has released two lots of data so far: Gaia Data Release 1 on 14 September 2016, and Gaia Data Release 2 …