The Gaia mission's second data set has finally been published and it significantly improves the already impressive original data released in 2016. The mission's goal for the first data release was to ...

Scientists created the most accurate three-dimensional map of star-formation regions in our Milky Way galaxy, based on data from ESA's Gaia space telescope. This map will teach us more about these ...

This is a still image of the animation showing Gaia’s star-formation map in 3D. (Image: Reddish-pink nebulas spread their tendrils across a backdrop of sparkling white stars. Reddish-pink nebulas ...

Most of us have looked up at the night sky and wondered how far away the stars are or in what direction they are moving. The truth is, scientists don’t know the exact positions or velocities of the ...

Gaia is the European Space Agency's program to produce the most precise and comprehensive multi-dimensional atlas of the Milky Way galaxy. This enables scientists to rebuild the structure and history ...

Star-forming regions tend to be hidden in thick dust clouds—but thanks to the Gaia space telescope, scientists have finally pierced through that veil. The result? An extraordinary, three-dimensional ...

When you look up at the night sky, do you wonder about what's out there? Most of the stars we can see with the naked eye reside within our own galaxy. And now we know a lot more about them. The ...

Starstruck: A collage of four different Gaia maps: the speed at which stars move towards or away from us (top left); 3D motions of stars (bottom left); interstellar dust (top right); and star ...

CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The ...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. The European Gaia space observatory is hard at work mapping our Milky Way Galaxy in unprecedented ...

On this artist impression of the Milky Way, based on data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia telescope, the location of the new star-formation map is shown. The star-formation region that is mapped ...