ESA - Gaia - Archive

ESA title

The mission

Gaia is creating an extraordinarily precise three-dimensional map of more than a thousand million stars throughout our Milky Way galaxy and beyond, mapping their motions, luminosity, temperature and composition. This huge stellar census will provide the data needed to tackle an enormous range of important questions related to the origin, structure and evolutionary history of our galaxy.

Launch: 19 December 2013
Orbit: L2 Lagrange point
Previous data release milestones:
Data Release 1: 14 September 2016
Data Release 2: 25 April 2018
Early Data Release 3: 3 December 2020
Data Release 3: 13 June 2022
Focused Product Release: 10 October 2023

1 billion pixel camera
10 m sunshield
1800 million objects

Gaia

Artist's impression of Type Ia supernova

Science & Exploration

Gaia discovers its first supernova

12/09/2014 21584 views 143 likes

Science & Exploration

Gaia: ‘Go’ for science

29/07/2014 10715 views 91 likes

Gaia calibration image

Science & Exploration

Gaia comes into focus

06/02/2014 23221 views 131 likes

Gaia mapping the stars of the Milky Way

Enabling & Support

The experts behind Gaia's arrival at nothingness

15/01/2014 16348 views 145 likes

Science & Exploration

Journey to a billion suns – world premiere of planetarium s…

08/01/2014 13786 views 78 likes

Gaia liftoff

Science & Exploration

Gaia enters its operational orbit

08/01/2014 23560 views 100 likes

Gaia liftoff

Science & Exploration

Liftoff for ESA’s billion-star surveyor

19/12/2013 30727 views 154 likes

Science & Exploration

Gaia has ticket to ride

18/12/2013 11916 views 61 likes

Gaia launch

Enabling & Support

Mission control ready for Gaia launch

17/12/2013 14235 views 66 likes

Farewell to Gaia

Science & Exploration

Gaia secured inside fairing

13/12/2013 9122 views 60 likes

Gaia mapping the stars of the Milky Way

Science & Exploration

Call for Media: ESA’s Galaxy-mapping Gaia ready for launch …

12/12/2013 3963 views 17 likes

Gaia mapping the stars of the Milky Way

Science & Exploration

Gaia launch postponement update

23/10/2013 13606 views 70 likes

Gaia mapping the stars of the Milky Way

Science & Exploration

Gaia: launch postponed

22/10/2013 3141 views 33 likes

Science & Exploration

Countdown to launch of ESA’s billion-star surveyor

21/10/2013 5946 views 53 likes

Antonov plane at Toulouse airport during Gaia loading

Science & Exploration

Gaia has arrived in French Guiana

23/08/2013 8006 views 60 likes

Science & Exploration

Europe bids Gaia a safe journey

27/06/2013 8652 views 60 likes

Gaia thermal–vacuum test

Dialling down the heat on ESA’s billion-star surveyor

18/09/2012 922 views 4 likes

Enabling & Support

Gaia spreads its wings

07/12/2011 1988 views 2 likes

Gaia camera array

Enabling & Support

Eye of Gaia: billion-pixel camera to map Milky Way

06/07/2011 8733 views 15 likes

Artist's impression of the Gaia satellite

Science & Exploration

Gaia to lift off from Europe’s Spaceport on a Soyuz launcher

16/12/2009 2156 views 1 likes

Gaia mapping the stars of the Milky Way

Science & Exploration

Most extensive mapping of Milky Way a step closer

14/06/2005 1263 views 1 likes

Gaia spacecraft showing deployed sunshield and solar arrays

Science & Exploration

Keeping ESA’s ‘lady of space’ cool

21/09/2004 2296 views 5 likes

Gaia spacecraft

Science & Exploration

The billion-pixel camera

09/09/2004 9617 views 57 likes

Gaia spacecraft

Science & Exploration

Mapping the Galaxy, and watching our backyard

25/06/2004 2852 views 12 likes

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