Topic description and stories

This is a new artist’s impression of our galaxy, the Milky Way, based on data from ESA’s Gaia space telescope.

Last starlight for ground-breaking Gaia

15 Jan 2025

The European Space Agency’s Milky Way-mapper Gaia has completed the sky-scanning phase of its mission, racking up more than three trillion...

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Gaia view of Omega Centauri

Latest Gaia data release reveals rare lenses, cluster cores and unforeseen science

10 Oct 2023

The European Space Agency’s Gaia mission has released a goldmine of knowledge about our galaxy and beyond. Among other findings, the star surveyor...

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Artist's impression of the predicted collision between the Milky Way and Andromeda

Dark energy could be measured by studying the galaxy next door

14 Aug 2023

Researchers have found a new way to measure dark energy – the mysterious force that makes up more than two-thirds of the universe and is responsible...

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Largest chemical map of the Milky Way unveiled

13 Jun 2022

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia mission has released a new treasure trove of data about our home galaxy, including stellar DNA, asymmetric...

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The colour of the sky from Gaia’s Early Data Release 3

Gaia: scientists take a step closer to revealing origins of our galaxy

03 Dec 2020

An international team of astronomers, led by the University of Cambridge, announced the most detailed ever catalogue of the stars in a huge swathe of...

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Pale white veils and the narrow bridge between the clouds represent the distribution of the RR Lyrae stars

A bridge of stars connects two dwarf galaxies

08 Feb 2017

The Magellanic Clouds, the two largest satellite galaxies of the Milky Way, appear to be connected by a bridge stretching across 43,000 light years...

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Artist’s impression of Gaia14aae

One year and 272 billion measurements later, Gaia team celebrates first anniversary of observations

25 Aug 2015

A space mission to create the largest, most-accurate, three-dimensional map of the Milky Way is celebrating its first completed year of observations...

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Gaia Deployable Sunshield Assembly

Twinkle, twinkle, little star: I’m going to know what you are

26 Apr 2012

A team of astronomers at the University of Cambridge is taking the next big step in a European-wide programme which will lead to the creation of the...

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