ESA title

The mission

From 27 July 2014 to 15 January 2025, Gaia has made more than three trillion observations of two billion stars and other objects throughout our Milky Way galaxy and beyond, mapping their motions, luminosity, temperature and composition. Gaia's extraordinarily precise three-dimensional map 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
  • End of science observations: 15 January 2025
  • Upcoming data releases:
    Data Release 4 (based on 66 months of data): expected December 2026
    Data Release 5 (based on all mission data): not before the end of 2030
  • Previous data releases:
    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
Gaia
Gaia mapping the stars of the Milky Way
Enabling & Support

Amateur astronomers needed: help classify stars with Gaia's…

21/03/2023 16283 views 242 likes
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Setup for occultation observation
Enabling & Support

Shadow hunters capture Didymos asteroid eclipsing stars

20/10/2022 4765 views 80 likes
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The Sun's future
Science & Exploration

Gaia reveals the past and future of the Sun

11/08/2022 36759 views 193 likes
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Science & Exploration

Gaia sees strange stars in most detailed Milky Way survey t…

13/06/2022 82470 views 177 likes
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Gaia observes the Milky Way
Science & Exploration

Watch live: first impressions of Gaia data release 3

10/06/2022 7565 views 104 likes
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New evidence of watery plumes on Jupiter’s moon Europa
Science & Exploration

Jupiter’s moon Europa to obscure distant star

07/06/2022 7407 views 121 likes
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Science & Exploration

Gaia data release 3 media kit

31/05/2022 17846 views 59 likes
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Science & Exploration

Media invitation: new details about our Milky Way in the th…

31/05/2022 3156 views 61 likes
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The colour of the sky from Gaia’s Early Data Release 3
Science & Exploration

Gaia finds parts of the Milky Way much older than expected

23/03/2022 24177 views 136 likes
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Gaia snaps photo of Webb
Science & Exploration

Gaia snaps photo of Webb at L2

16/03/2022 32370 views 140 likes
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Science & Exploration

Gaia reveals that most Milky Way companion galaxies are new…

24/11/2021 14247 views 169 likes
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Science & Exploration

Is the nearest star cluster to the Sun being destroyed?

24/03/2021 18705 views 123 likes
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Gaia’s stellar motion for the next 400 thousand years
Science & Exploration

Gaia’s new data takes us to the Milky Way’s anticentre and …

03/12/2020 122934 views 400 likes
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Science & Exploration

Five fascinating Gaia revelations about the Milky Way

21/09/2020 15670 views 128 likes
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Gaia mapping the stars of the Milky Way
Space Safety

Gaia revolutionises asteroid tracking

01/07/2020 7085 views 88 likes
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Science & Exploration

Galactic crash may have triggered Solar System formation

25/05/2020 29356 views 151 likes
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The warped disc of our galaxy, the Milky Way.
Science & Exploration

Milky Way’s warp caused by galactic collision, Gaia suggests

02/03/2020 22020 views 121 likes
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Stellar pair discovered in Gaia16aye microlensing event
Science & Exploration

Global Gaia campaign reveals secrets of stellar pair

21/01/2020 5618 views 36 likes
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Science & Exploration

Gaia untangles the starry strings of the Milky Way

28/08/2019 11183 views 128 likes
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Jupiter's largest moons
Science & Exploration

Astronomers spy Europa blocking distant star – thanks to Ga…

25/07/2019 10733 views 125 likes
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Science & Exploration

Gaia starts mapping our galaxy’s bar

16/07/2019 9306 views 101 likes
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Gaia mapping the stars of the Milky Way
Enabling & Support

Gaia’s biggest operation since launch

15/07/2019 10607 views 145 likes
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Pinpointing Gaia from Earth
Science & Exploration

Observing Gaia from Earth to improve its star maps

02/05/2019 7180 views 88 likes
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Future motions of the Milky Way, Andromeda and Triangulum galaxies
Science & Exploration

Gaia clocks new speeds for Milky Way-Andromeda collision

07/02/2019 28212 views 176 likes
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Artist’s impression of crystallisation in white dwarf
Science & Exploration

Gaia reveals how Sun-like stars turn solid after their demi…

09/01/2019 14173 views 161 likes
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A major event in the formation of the Milky Way
Science & Exploration

Galactic ghosts: Gaia uncovers major event in the formation…

31/10/2018 27950 views 191 likes
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Sprinting stars in the Milky Way
Science & Exploration

Gaia spots stars flying between galaxies

02/10/2018 21160 views 187 likes
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Artist impression of ‘Oumuamua
Science & Exploration

Gaia finds candidates for interstellar ‘Oumuamua’s home

25/09/2018 10559 views 113 likes
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Perturbations in the Milky Way
Science & Exploration

Gaia hints at our Galaxy’s turbulent life

19/09/2018 25616 views 200 likes
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Beta Pictoris system
Science & Exploration

Infant exoplanet weighed by Hipparcos and Gaia

20/08/2018 8735 views 132 likes
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Gaia’s sky in colour
Science & Exploration

Gaia creates richest star map of our Galaxy – and beyond

25/04/2018 478265 views 542 likes
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How many stars will there be in the second Gaia data release?
Science & Exploration

Call for media: Second data release from ESA's Gaia mission

19/04/2018 5108 views 28 likes
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Science & Exploration

Close encounters of the stellar kind

31/08/2017 17136 views 113 likes
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Stars speeding through the Galaxy
Science & Exploration

Artificial brain helps Gaia catch speeding stars

26/06/2017 9153 views 83 likes
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Science & Exploration

The future of the Orion constellation

09/06/2017 37713 views 181 likes
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Gaia’s first sky map
Science & Exploration

Gaia’s billion-star map hints at treasures to come

14/09/2016 163443 views 399 likes
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Science & Exploration

Watch Gaia first data release media briefing

12/09/2016 22798 views 147 likes
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Gaia mapping the stars of the Milky Way
Science & Exploration

Call for media: First data release from ESA's Gaia mission

01/09/2016 3512 views 35 likes
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Rosetta comet seen by Gaia
Science & Exploration

Celebrity comet spotted among Gaia’s stars

03/11/2015 5768 views 70 likes
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Stellar density map
Science & Exploration

Gaia's first year of scientific observations

25/08/2015 18663 views 156 likes
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Stellar density map
Science & Exploration

Counting stars with Gaia

03/07/2015 18143 views 118 likes
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Artist's impression of Type Ia supernova
Science & Exploration

Gaia discovers its first supernova

12/09/2014 22419 views 143 likes
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Science & Exploration

Gaia: ‘Go’ for science

29/07/2014 11078 views 91 likes
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Gaia calibration image
Science & Exploration

Gaia comes into focus

06/02/2014 23395 views 131 likes
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Gaia mapping the stars of the Milky Way
Enabling & Support

The experts behind Gaia's arrival at nothingness

15/01/2014 16615 views 145 likes
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Science & Exploration

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

08/01/2014 14098 views 78 likes
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Gaia liftoff
Science & Exploration

Gaia enters its operational orbit

08/01/2014 24371 views 100 likes
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Gaia liftoff
Science & Exploration

Liftoff for ESA’s billion-star surveyor

19/12/2013 31049 views 154 likes
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Science & Exploration

Gaia has ticket to ride

18/12/2013 12121 views 61 likes
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Gaia launch
Enabling & Support

Mission control ready for Gaia launch

17/12/2013 14442 views 66 likes
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