The third time that the Gaia Space Observatory has made gathered data available, it shows the most precise 3D representation of the Milky Way and how it will evolve over the next hundreds of thousands of years.
You may see the most up-to-date, exact 3D model of the Milky Way and how stars move by watching the video below.
The European Space Agency reports that the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC) has published the first portion of a sizable release of data gathered by the French Guiana observatory since 2013. On the basis of these, a three-dimensional atlas was created. The probe has tracked 1.8 billion stars over the last seven years, measuring their positions and velocities.
The stars move continuously. The appropriate movement, which cannot be seen by the human sight, is being more precisely measured by Gaia. The motions of 40,000 stars in the Milky Way that are within 100 parsecs (325 light-years) of the solar system are shown in this movie during the course of the next 400,000 years.
Researchers will benefit from the comprehensive quality of the map when they do difficult calculations about the mass of the galaxy or the acceleration of the Solar System. We will learn more about how our galaxy evolved and how it evolves over time thanks to this useful facts.
"For the last seven years, Gaia has been gazing up into the sky to chart the location and motion of the stars. The most accurate 3D atlas with a billion stars has been made possible by telescopes, according to Caroline Harper, director of space science at the UK Space Agency, who spoke with the Guardian.
2013 saw the launch of Gaia, which now orbits the so-called Lagrange-2 position (L2). It is 1.5 million kilometers behind the Earth and facing the Sun. When the Earth and Sun's gravitational pulls are balanced at L2, the spacecraft is in a stable posture. This offers a lengthy, essentially unhindered vista of the sky.
The primary objective of the Gaia satellite observatory is to use the parallax technique to calculate the distance between Earth and stars. Using measurements of the apparent change in star positions over time as a consequence of the Earth's rotation around the Sun, astronomers use the observatory to continually monitor the sky in this situation.
This mild acceleration is typical of a system in a circular orbit. The Sun accelerates and moves 7 mm/sec closer to the Galaxy's nucleus during the course of a year.
Additionally, it orbits at 230 km/sec. The Small and Large Magellanic Clouds, the Milky Way's two largest neighbor galaxies, are also examined by Gaia data. These subsets are shown in a stunning graphic along with the star bridge connecting the two systems.
While an extension till 2025 is still a possibility, Gaia's data collecting is expected to continue for at least two more years. Star locations are anticipated to be 1.9 times more precise than previously in the next data release.