ESA's star-surveying Gaia mission has released a treasure trove of new data as part of its ‘focused product release’. As part of this data release Gaia explored Omega Centauri, the largest globular cluster that can be seen from Earth and a great example of a ‘typical’ cluster.
The team has revealed 526 587 stars that Gaia had not seen before, detecting stars that lie too close together to be measured in the telescope’s regular pipeline and those in the cluster core that are up to 15 times fainter than previously seen. The new data reveal 10 times more stars in Omega Centauri; this new knowledge will enable researchers to study the cluster’s structure, how the constituent stars are distributed, how they’re moving, and more.
This image is from Gaia’s Data Release 3 in 2022. It is contrasted in a new slider with an image from today’s data release, to highlight just how many new sources have been imaged in the cluster’s centre. Only faint stars within Omega Centauri are plotted here.
Alt-text: This image shows a star cluster, which appears as a collection of bright stars against a dark background. The roughly circular cluster appears like a doughnut with an empty centre.
Acknowledgments: Michele Trabucchi, Nami Mowlavi and Thomas Lebzelter