The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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ESA’s Gaia space telescope has further disentangled the history of our galaxy, discovering two streams of stars that formed and wove together over 12 billion years ago.
The two streams, named Shakti and Shiva, helped form the infant Milky Way. Both are so ancient that they likely formed before even the oldest parts of our present-day galaxy’s spiral arms and disc. This image shows the location and distribution of Shakti (yellow) and Shiva (blue) stars throughout the Milky Way.
The streams were discovered using ESA’s billion-star surveyor, Gaia. Gaia observations enabled the researchers to determine the content and composition of the individual stars, which in turn revealed more of their properties and showed their movements through space.
[Image description: Illustration showing a real view of the Milky Way band across the sky. Yellow dots show the location of the stars from the Shakti stream. Blue dots show the location of the stars from the Shiva stream.]