ESA Science & Technology - News Archive
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ESA's ambitious Gaia mission is the culmination of over two thousand years of astrometry – the science of charting the sky. A new sonification demonstrates in a novel way the remarkable progress that has been made in the lead up to the first data release from Gaia.
Published: 22 September 2016
The first catalogue of more than a billion stars from ESA's Gaia satellite was published today – the largest all-sky survey of celestial objects to date.
Published: 14 September 2016
Media representatives are invited to a briefing on the first data release of ESA's Gaia mission, an astrometry mission to map the stars of our galaxy, the Milky Way. The media briefing is being organised at ESAC, in Spain, on Wednesday 14 September 2016, 11:30-13:00 CEST.
Published: 1 September 2016
Since its launch in December 2013 Gaia has been sweeping the skies mapping around one billion stars. The data collected will allow astronomers to probe the very nature of the astronomical objects observed by the spacecraft. But before the data can be useful to the scientific community they must pass through a complex and robust processing...
Published: 24 August 2016
Operating in the depths of space, far beyond the Moon's orbit, ESA's Gaia spacecraft has now completed two years of a planned five-year survey of the sky. Despite a series of unexpected technical challenges, the mission is on track to complete the most detailed and complex mapping of the heavens ever undertaken.
Published: 16 August 2016
ESA's billion-star surveyor Gaia, launched on 19 December 2013, and in routine science operations since 25 July 2014, will release the first mission data on 14 September 2016.
Published: 4 July 2016
While scanning the sky to measure the position and velocity of a billion stars, ESA's Gaia satellite also records many 'guest stars' – astronomical sources that, for a short period of time, are much brighter than usual.
Published: 7 March 2016
From 16 to 20 November 2015, about two hundred members of the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC) are meeting in Leiden, The Netherlands, to review the current status of preparations for future catalogue releases from ESA's billion star surveyor mission.
Published: 16 November 2015
Located 1.5 million km from the Earth, ESA's Gaia spacecraft is scanning the sky to conduct the most detailed census of stars in our Galaxy. However, on 6 November, it will be perfectly placed to witness a rare event that will involve objects much closer to home – a lunar transit across the Sun.
Published: 5 November 2015
Last Friday, 21 August, ESA's billion-star surveyor, Gaia, completed its first year of science observations in its main survey mode.
Published: 25 August 2015
This image, based on housekeeping data from ESA's Gaia satellite, is no ordinary depiction of the heavens. While the image portrays the outline of our Galaxy, the Milky Way, and of its neighbouring Magellanic Clouds, it was obtained in a rather unusual way.
Published: 3 July 2015
While scanning the sky to measure the positions and movements of stars in our Galaxy, Gaia has discovered its first stellar explosion in another galaxy far, far away.
Published: 12 September 2014
Following extensive in-orbit commissioning and several unexpected challenges, ESA's billion-star surveyor, Gaia, is now ready to begin its science mission.
Published: 29 July 2014
ESA's billion-star surveyor Gaia is slowly being brought into focus. This test image shows a dense cluster of stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way.
Published: 6 February 2014
ESA's billion-star surveyor Gaia is now in its operational orbit around a gravitationally stable virtual point in space called 'L2', 1.5 million km from Earth.
Published: 8 January 2014
ESA's Gaia mission blasted off this morning on a Soyuz rocket from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on its exciting mission to study a billion suns.
Published: 19 December 2013
Find below an outline timeline for the launch of Gaia on 19 December 2013. See notes below table for details. All times subject to change. Follow launch live via ESA TV, starting 08:50 GMT (09:50 CET).
Published: 18 December 2013
ESA's Gaia mission to survey a billion stars is 'go' for launch. The satellite has passed its final checks and is ready to be launched tomorrow from Europe's spaceport in Kourou.
Published: 18 December 2013
ESA's billion-star surveyor Gaia, less than a week from launch, is now tucked up inside the fairing that will protect it during the first few minutes of ascent into space.
Published: 13 December 2013
Updated 22 November 2013: Arianespace have announced that Gaia is scheduled to launch on 19 December 2013 at 09:12:18 UTC.
Published: 23 October 2013
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