Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS

Billion-star map of Milky Way set to transform astronomy

European Gaia spacecraft’s first major data dump — the most detailed 3D chart yet of our Galaxy — will keep researchers busy for decades.
  1. Davide Castelvecchi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

ESA’s Gaia mission has produced the richest star catalogue to date.

The Milky Way galaxy has been charted by the Gaia mission in unprecedented detail. Credit: ESA/Gaia/DPAC

After a feverish wait, astronomers around the world have an ocean of new information to throw themselves into. On 25 April, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia mission published its first fully 3D map of the Milky Way.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 557, 18 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-04979-4

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links