Gaia is an ambitious mission to chart a three-dimensional map of our Galaxy, the Milky Way, in the process revealing the composition, formation and evolution of the Galaxy. Gaia will provide unprecedented positional and radial velocity measurements with the accuracies needed to produce a stereoscopic and kinematic census of about one billion stars in our Galaxy and throughout the Local Group. This amounts to about 1 per cent of the Galactic stellar population.
Gaia reveals how Sun-like stars turn solid after their demise 09 January 2019 Data captured by ESA's galaxy-mapping spacecraft Gaia has revealed for the first time how white dwarfs, the dead remnants of stars like our Sun, turn into solid spheres as the hot gas inside them cools down. Read more
Galactic ghosts: Gaia uncovers major event in the formation of the Milky Way 31 October 2018 ESA's Gaia mission has made a major breakthrough in unravelling the formation history of the Milky Way. Instead of forming alone, our Galaxy merged with another large galaxy early in its life, around 10 billion years ago. Read more
Gaia spots stars flying between galaxies 02 October 2018 A team of astronomers using the latest set of data from ESA's Gaia mission to look for high-velocity stars being kicked out of the Milky Way were surprised to find stars instead sprinting inwards – perhaps from another galaxy. Read more
Gaia finds candidates for interstellar 'Oumuamua's home 25 September 2018 Using data from ESA's Gaia stellar surveyor, astronomers have identified four stars that are possible places of origin of 'Oumuamua, an interstellar object spotted during a brief visit to our Solar System in 2017. Read more
Gaia hints at our Galaxy's turbulent life 19 September 2018 ESA's star mapping mission, Gaia, has shown our Milky Way galaxy is still enduring the effects of a near collision that set millions of stars moving like ripples on a pond. Read more
Infant exoplanet weighed by Hipparcos and Gaia 20 August 2018 The mass of a very young exoplanet has been revealed for the first time using data from ESA's star mapping spacecraft Gaia and its predecessor, the quarter-century retired Hipparcos satellite. Read more
Gaia's stellar family portrait 14 May 2018 Explore Gaia's second data release with this interactive visualisation of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, the family portrait of stars in our Milky Way. Read more
Gaia's surprising discoveries – Part 1
Scrutinising the Milky Way
20 April 2018
The first data release of ESA's Gaia satellite provided a surprising number of scientific results. Yet it is nothing but a tease for what is expected from the second data release, scheduled for 25 April.
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Gaia's surprising discoveries – Part 2
From the Sun's neighbourhood to the distant Universe
20 April 2018
Gaia's first data release was not designed to be a full database with which major scientific discoveries could be made. Instead it was foreseen much more as a set of test data that astronomers could practice on and get ready for the second release from ESA's billion-star surveyor – the one that would feature a billion parallaxes and proper motions of stars.
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Replay of the Gaia Data Release 2 briefing 25 April 2018 The long-awaited second data release from ESA's Gaia mission has been published. Watch the replay of ESA's 'Science is everywhere' media briefing at ILA, on 25 April 2018, including the Gaia announcement. Read more
Gaia's sky in colour 
