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On March 27 , scientists tender farewell to the Gaia telescope , bringing to a close its groundbreaking 11 - year charge of mapping theMilky Wayand our cosmic neck of the woods .
Though not as famous as some of its compeer like the Hubble orJames Webbspace telescopes , Gaia has reshaped our discernment of our home galaxy , theMilky Way . Since 2014 , theEuropean Space Agency ’s ( ESA ) telescope has meticulously chart the creation , create a huge catalog of nearly 2 billion stars , more than 4 million possible galaxy and around 150,000asteroids , with moonspossibly circling hundreds of them .
Artist’s impression of the Gaia telescope mapping stars of the Milky Way galaxy.
These observations have led to more than13,000 scientific sketch , with many more potential to watch in the come years .
" Gaia ’s extensive data releases are a unparalleled hoarded wealth trove for astrophysical research , and influence almost all disciplines in astronomy,“Johannes Sahlmann , a physicist at the European Space Astronomy Centre in Spain and a project scientist for the Gaia foreign mission , said in astatement .
After 11 old age of operations — nearly double its expected lifetime — Gaia fly the coop out of fuel , move its operators at ESA to power down and move back the spacecraft .
An illustration of what the Milky Way might look like face-on based on data from the Gaia telescope.
The best map of the Milky Way galaxy
Since it launched in December 2013 , Gaia graph the cosmos from a vantage point about a million miles ( 1.6 million kilometers ) from Earth , at a spot called Lagrange power point 2 ( L2 ) , where the gravitational forces of Earth and the sun , and the orbital motion of a artificial satellite residue each other .
Gaia ’s principal destination was to map the positions and drift of over a billion maven within the Milky Way , creating the large , most precise3D mapping of our extragalactic nebula . To do so , it was equipped with twin telescopes pointed in different directions to measure the distances between stars , while three onboard instrument collect data on the positions , velocity , color as well as chemical make-up of celestial object .
The exquisite mathematical function of our extragalactic nebula it foregather has enable scientist to better empathise the galaxy ’s spiral structure , calculate the shape and mass of the dark matter halo that surround the Milky Way , and figure out the decades - old mystery of our galax ’s warped and wobbling disk — which is likely due to an ongoing collision with the smaller Sagittarius galaxy .
Additionally , the catalog has provided astronomers with raw insights into theancient nature of parts of our coltsfoot , suggesting that star topology began spring in the Milky Way ’s disk less than 1 billion old age after the Big Bang — far earlier than the previously accepted timeline of 3 billion years .
The scope ’s observations have also led astronomers to discover antecedently hidden leading stream . For representative , in 2020 , its database of star revealed the presence and soma of the largest structure ever observe in our coltsfoot : a vast ensemble of interconnect stellar nurseries spanning 9,000 wanton - year , known as theRadcliffe Wave , which may have hada endure impact on Earth ’s mood .
" Gaia has changed our impression of the Milky Way,“Stefan Payne - Wardenaar , a scientific visualiser at the Heidelberg University in Germany , state in a previousstatement .
The spacecraft has serendipitously captivate thousands of starquakes — midget move on surface of stars that cause them to intumesce and quail sporadically — providing unique insights into the inner working of stars , and spotted high - velocity star both bunk our extragalactic nebula and , amazingly , step on it toward it . It also uncovered several cosmic " sleeping giants , " or grim mess — one of which islurking extremely close to Earth .
Gaia ’s star catalog has also been used to time the expansion rate of the universe , fuel the ongoing disputation over why the expansion seems to be go on quicker than uranologist expect .
" It is telling that these find are base only on the first few age of Gaia information , and many were made in the last year alone,“Anthony Brown , an associate prof of uranology at the University of Leiden in Netherlands , said in the argument .
Saying goodbye to the ‘discovery machine of the decade’
On March 27 , ESA overtop Gaia to use its thruster for the concluding time , pushing the space vehicle into a " retirement orbit " safely away from Earth and the scientifically important L2 orbit , which is also abode to theJames Webb Space Telescope , Euclid telescopeand China ’s Chang’e 6 satellite .
Last week the mission squad inactivate the spacecraft ’s instruments , which were contrive with multiple redundant systems to ensure it could reboot and re-start operations after any failure . To forbid its computers from powering back on in the future , operators deliberately spoil its onboard software , agree to the ESA statement .
" We had to design a decommissioning scheme that involved consistently pluck aside and disabling the bed of redundance that have safeguarded Gaia for so long,“Tiago Nogueira , Gaia spacecraft wheeler dealer , enunciate in the argument . " We do n’t want it to reactivate in the future and begin transmitting again if its solar panels find sunshine . "
As part of this process , some of Gaia ’s onboard software package is being overwritten using word of farewell messages from its team on Earth , as well as the names of around 1500 people that have contribute to the mission over the geezerhood . pic.twitter.com/Kf37OTSHtBMarch 27 , 2025
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Team members spell the name calling of all 1,500 contributors to the Gaia military mission into the ballistic capsule ’s onboard store , as well as personal parting messages and poems .
The scope may have gone dark , but scientist go for its discovery will continue to shine brilliantly . So far , only a third of the foreign mission ’s information has been analyzed , as process the vast amount of selective information — Gaia is expected to have gather more than 1 PB ( 1 million gibibyte ) of data by the end of its missionary post — accept months . The next deal of science data is place to be released in 2026 , covering a little over five years of observance , with the fifth and terminal release scheduled for 2030 , which will encompass the full 10 year of data .
" Gaia has been the uncovering machine of the decennium , a trend that is set to continue , " Brown say in the statement .
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