Sky-scanning complete for Gaia
ESA's Gaia mission has completed its sky-scanning phase, gathering over three trillion observations of two billion celestial objects, with two major data releases still anticipated despite dwindling fuel supplies.
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ESA's Gaia mission has successfully completed its sky-scanning phase, accumulating over three trillion observations of approximately two billion stars and other celestial objects over the past decade. Launched on December 19, 2013, Gaia's mission has significantly enhanced our understanding of the Milky Way and its surroundings. As the spacecraft's fuel supply diminishes, it consumes about a dozen grams of cold gas daily to maintain its precise orientation, totaling 55 kg for its extensive operations. The Gaia catalogue continues to expand, including data on various cosmic entities such as asteroids, exoplanets, and binary stars. Since the first data release in 2016, the catalogue has been accessed over 580 million times, leading to the publication of more than 13,000 scientific papers. Despite the completion of the sky-scanning phase, the mission is not over, with two major data releases still anticipated in the future.
- Gaia has completed its sky-scanning phase, observing over two billion stars and objects.
- The mission has generated more than three trillion observations since its launch in 2013.
- Gaia's data has been accessed over 580 million times, resulting in over 13,000 scientific publications.
- The spacecraft is running low on fuel but continues to operate with precision.
- Two significant data releases are still expected from the Gaia mission.
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- Users share links to impressive images and animations from the Gaia mission.
- Technical details about Gaia's equipment and performance issues are discussed, including stray light effects.
- There are speculations about future discoveries, such as the potential identification of Planet Nine.
- Some commenters express a desire for further mapping of celestial bodies, including planets.
- There is a nostalgic tone as users acknowledge the end of Gaia's data collection phase and look forward to new missions like LSST.
12 commentsTwo of my favorites: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2025/The_best_Milk...
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2025/01/The_best_M...
Neat.
How has that affected this result?
[1] https://blogs.esa.int/gaia/2014/06/16/preliminary-analysis-o...
"Gaia’s fuel tank is now approaching empty"
Well, congrats to all involved to such a supremely successful and important mission. When I went to school, it was said that astronomers were happy if they get the order of a measurement right. No such excuses anymore (at least for some 2 billion "nearby" objects)!
Not worth the download, as I thought that it would contain a huge panorama of the sky.
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