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The European Space Agency’s Gaia mission has completed one of its main tasks: to deliver a map of the Milky Way galaxy made up of trillions of observations made over 10 years.
Since July 24, 2014, Gaia has made more than three trillion observations of two billion stars and other objects in our galaxy. The result of the spacecraft’s efforts is nothing less than the largest, most accurate map of our galaxy to date. Her work done, and with the spacecraft running out of fuel, Gaia is now set to retire.
The collection of data collected by Gaia has allowed scientists to create the best reconstructed picture of what our galaxy might look like to an outside observer; exterior reconstruction above and front view below.
Gaia’s data revealed that the Milky Way has more than two spiral arms that are less prominent than previously thought. The brighter spot in the center of the galaxy is the galactic bulge (more prominent in the image above), here Sagittarius lives A*supermassive black hole.
Gaia data has revealed many interesting objects in our galaxy; Scientists discovered in April 2024 the heaviest stellar-mass black hole In the Milky Way, just 2000 light years from Earth. (to Gaia data in 2022 The closest known black hole to Eartha relatively small compact object only 1,600 light-years away.)
In June last year Checking the Gaia data It has undermined theories of our galaxy’s evolution by suggesting that interactions between the Milky Way and another galaxy may occur billions of years later than previously thought.
“Gaia has changed our impression of the Milky Way,” said Stefan Payne-Wardenaar, scientific visualizer for Haus der Astronomie in Germany. press release. “Even fundamental ideas such as the rotation of our galaxy’s central bar, the curvature of the disk, the detailed structure of the spiral arms and the interstellar dust near the Sun have been revised.”
Among the spacecraft’s many accomplishments: Gaia has precisely measured the orbits of more than 150,000 asteroids and produced a three-dimensional map of more than a million quasars, the largest of its kind.
“Distant parts of the Milky Way remain educated guesses based on incomplete data,” Payne-Wardenaar said. As more Gaia data becomes available, “our view of the Milky Way will become more precise,” he said.
The spacecraft is almost out of fuel; When the tank is fully depleted, Gaia will be transferred to a retirement orbit. In the coming weeks, Gaia will undergo several technology tests that will prepare the spacecraft for this end-game orbit.
But the story of the spacecraft will live on even after the observation work is over. Next year, the mission is expected to deliver its next data release, with another scheduled for the end of the decade. Gaia has produced 500 terabytes of data so far, totaling the spacecraft’s 5.5 years of observations.
“After 11 years in space and surviving micrometeorite impacts and solar storms along the way, Gaia has finished collecting science data,” said Johannes Sahlmann, Gaia project scientist at ESA. release. “All eyes are now on preparing the next data releases.” At least 500 terabytes of data are expected to be released in next year’s data dump, which may include information on new exoplanets and binary star systems.
It will be Gaia became passivewas electrically disabled on March 27 to reduce any interference between the veteran mission and other spacecraft still in operation.
