The map of 1.7 billion stars
The mission Gaia of the European Space Agency has surprised us again with a new map of our galaxy, the most complete to date with data on 1.7 billion stars , surpassing the billion contained in the one published in 2016 , they explain on the project website .
Launched in 2013, this space probe and the data it has collected between July 25, 2014 and May 23, 2016 have allowed this stellar catalog to be made.
In total, 22 months of mapping the sky to extract position data as well as distance and movement indicators of the stars. In addition, they have been obtained asteroid measurements located in our solar system and information from other stars outside our milky way.
“The data collected by Gaia is redefining the fundamentals of astronomy” , explains on the ESA website Günther Hasinger, director of science at this institution. And it is that with them it will be possible to advance in the research on the formation and evolution of our galaxy.
These data allow us to advance research on the formation and evolution of our galaxy
Because this is about details. For example, of the parallax of more than 1,300 million stars and their speed in the sky. Parallax, as defined by the RAE, is the “apparent variation in the position of an object, especially a star, when the observer's position changes”. The importance of these data lies in the fact that they allow us to differentiate the parallax of the stars from their true movement in the galaxy and, with it, estimate the actual distance to the stars.
Beyond this, the data also provides information on the brightness and color of stars and how they change over time ; the velocities along the line of sight of a subset of seven million stars; the surface temperature of about 100 million stars and the effect of interstellar dust on 87 million stars.
The scientists involved in this project expect surprising discoveries with the new data that Gaia is already amassing.