Gaia Telescope maps the Milky Way's billion and more stars

The European Space Agency (ESA) through its Gaia satellite released the first data that will be used to create the largest and most precise three-dimensional map of our galaxy on Sept. 14. The catalogue pins down the accurate distances and motions of about two million stars in the sky.

Launched in December 2013, Gaia's latest data shows an all-sky view of stars in our galaxy and neighbouring galaxies, based on the first year of observations from the satellite from July 2014 to September 2015.

"Gaia is at the forefront of astrometry, charting the sky at precisions that have never been achieved before," says Alvaro Giménez, ESA's Director of Science.