ESA’s decade-long Milky Way Gaia mapping mission still has tons of data to release over the next few years. Expect surprises.

Goodnight Gaia. The European Space Agency star-tracking satellite ceased operations on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, after 12 years of mapping the Milky Way.

We can judge the value of any scientific endeavour based on how much of our knowledge it overturns or transforms.

In the meantime, there remains a chance to glimpse Gaia through a small telescope before its final retirement. Uwe Lammers, ...

Milky Way stars that are high and low in metallicity have been mapped by the ESA Gaia mission. [Gaia spacecraft: Mapping the ...

Gaia was launched on December 19, 2013, and began scanning the stars in July 2014. It mapped over two billion stars, ...

The European Space Agency's (ESA) Gaia telescope has completed its objective - making the most detailed and precise map of ...

ESA's Gaia mission has discovered the closest and 2nd closest black holes to Earth found yet. In this animation, travel to latter, black hole Gaia BH2, and see what makes it unique. Credit: ...

Soon, the Gaia spacecraft will leave orbit and begin its retirement in the depths of space. In the last 10 years, it has ...

Credit: Robert Lea (created with Canva) Night has fallen for the star-tracking European Space Agency (ESA) spacecraft, Gaia. The mission, which has been mapping the Milky Way for the last 12 years ...

"I expect Gaia's best results are still to come." Night has fallen for the star-tracking European Space Agency (ESA) spacecraft, Gaia. The mission, which has been mapping the Milky Way for the ...