Gaia’s first major data release is both a wonderful achievement in its own right, and a taster of the truly dramatic advances to come in future years.
- Gerry Gilmore
Detailed information about more than a billion stars in the Milky Way has been published in the first data release from the Gaia satellite, which is conducting the first-ever ‘galactic census.’ The release marks the first chance astronomers and the public have had to get their hands on the most detailed map ever made of the sky.
Gaia, which orbits the sun at a distance of 1.5 million kilometres from the earth, was launched by the European Space Agency in December 2013 with the aim of observing a billion stars and revolutionising our understanding of the Milky Way. During its expected five-year lifespan, Gaia will observe each of a billion stars about 70 times.
The unique mission is reliant on the work of Cambridge researchers who collect the vast quantities of data transmitted by Gaia to a data processing centre at the University, overseen by a team at the Institute of Astronomy.
“Gaia’s first major data release is both a wonderful achievement in its own right, and a taster of the truly dramatic advances to come in future years,” said Professor Gerry Gilmore from the Institute of Astronomy, who is also the UK Principal Investigator for Gaia.
“Several UK teams have leading roles in Gaia’s Data Processing and Analysis efforts, which convert the huge raw data streams from the satellite into the beautiful science-ready information now made available for the global scientific and public communities. UK industry made critical contributions to the Gaia spacecraft. The UK public, including school students, as well as scientists, are sharing the excitement of this first ever galactic census.”
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Image: Gaia’s first sky map
Credit: ESA/Gaia/DPAC
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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