Tag: Gaia
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First map from Europe’s Gaia satellite charts a billion stars in our Milky Way
This composite image shows an all-sky view of stars in our Milky Way galaxy, plus neighboring galaxies. Click on the image for a larger, annotated version. (Credit: ESA / Gaia / DPAC) The team behind the European Space Agency’s Gaia satellite has released its first catalog of more than a billion stars in our Milky Way…
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Gaia arrives at its destination – Lagrange points hold future possibilities
Europe’s galactic survey spacecraft, Gaia, recently arrived at its deep space location, ahead of conducting its primary mission of observing one billion stars. Gaia is now in a location known as Lagrange point 2 (L2), one of a number of destinations of interest for a number of future spacecraft, from JWST through to the potential “Gateway”…
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Soyuz ST-B successfully launches Gaia space observatory
An Arianespace Soyuz ST-B rocket successfully launched the impressive Gaia space observatory from the Kourou Spaceport in French Guiana on Thursday. The launch – occurring on schedule at 9:12 am UTC – marks the beginning of an ambitious project to map a billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy. The Spacecraft: The Gaia spacecraft is…