The space probe Gaia unveiled its latest findings Monday in an effort to map the Milky Way in as much detail as possible and observe nearly two million stars. The spacecraft also uncovered a mysterious “star quake” that generated a gigantic sweep of flames like a huge tsunami.
The third mission’s dataset “revolutionizes our understanding of galaxies,” said the European Space Agency (ESA). Monday morning East America time the data was released to astronomers around the world who had been eagerly waiting.
“No astronomer would not use this data, directly or indirectly,” said Francois Mignard, a member of the Gaia team.
Some of the map’s new findings are close to Earth, such as the catalog of more than 156,000 asteroids in our Solar System “whose orbits have been calculated by Gaia with unmatched precision,” Mignard said.
But Gaia also saw beyond the Milky Way. The probe captured the presence of 2.9 million other galaxies and 1.9 million quasars — very bright centers of galaxies fueled by energy from supermassive black holes.
The Gaia spacecraft is strategically placed in orbit 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. The probe has been observing the sky since its launch by ESA in 2013. [ka/uh]
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