Gaia's all-sky view

An all-sky view of the 2 057 050 stars from the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS), one of the products of the first data release from ESA's Gaia mission. The view also includes 24 320 bright stars from the Hipparcos Catalogue that are not included in Gaia's first data release.

The shape of the Orion constellation is highlighted towards the right edge of the frame, just below the Galactic Plane. Two stellar clusters can be seen towards the left edge of the frame: these are the alpha Persei (Per OB3) and Pleiades open clusters.

The stripes visible in the image reflect the way Gaia scans the sky and the preliminary nature of the first data release.