The most elaborate and accurate map of the Milky Way yet has been unveil . The European Space Agency ’s Gaia observatory has published the first part of its third data release improving upon the incredible map of our beetleweed produced in previous publications . Gaia has now measure the billet of almost 1.812 billion stars with unparalleled preciseness .
This is not only more accurate than any map develop before Gaia , but uranologist have also amend on the incredible precision arrive at in the secondGaia data release ( DR2)in 2018 . The uncertainty on distances is now 0.71 times small equate to DR2 . Gaia also measure the 3D velocity of almost 1.5 billion stars as well and the fresh catalog has 0.44 smaller dubiety on the proper motion of these objects .
“ Gaia EDR3 is the result of a huge sweat from everyone involved in the Gaia mission . It ’s an extraordinarily copious data put , and I look forward to the many discoveries that astronomers from around the world will make with this resourcefulness , ” Timo Prusti , ESA ’s Gaia Project Scientist , say in astatement . “ And we ’re not done yet ; more enceinte data will be as Gaia continues to make measurements from orbit . ”
The incredible map is a corking step onward for astronomy and press cutting - edge science is already being carry out thanks to this new data . The Gaia data has been used to precisely measure the acceleration of the Solar System towards the center of the Milky Way . This flyspeck and gentle wrench is about 7 millimeters per second with an uncertainty of about half a millimetre . This means that every second the trajectory of the Solar System is debar by the diam of an mote , amount to about 115 kilometers ( 71 mile ) in a year .
The most exact 3D map of the Milky Way yet .
The information was also used to take the edge of the Milky Way ’s platter , the so - call in anticenter . It shows populations of stars moving in a very strange fashion . A tardily - moving universe is moving down towards the woodworking plane of the Milky Way , while a fast - moving universe is moving upwards . This particular consequence might be the consequence of astronomic cannibalism .
Yes , our own Milky Way is in the process of absorb one of its companion galaxies , the Sagittarius Dwarf . A close flyby of this humble coltsfoot sometime between 300 and 900 million years ago , created ripples in the star disk .
Gaia was also used to search at two other companions of the Milky Way , the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds . The Gaia data allowed for precise mapping of the two galaxies as well as the faintbridge of gas pedal and starsthat connect them .
The EDR3 has also give up for the most comprehensive view of the solar locality . Within 336 light - years ( 100 secpar ) , there are 331,312 starring aim . This is forecast to be 92 percent of the true population . What ’s missing from the catalogue is some of the faintest , cool nanus although the team believes they have discover many of them . They have also tracked how these will move over the next 1.6 million year and how the Nox sky will shift .
Simulations of the succeeding motion and place of mavin were also behave for 75,000 local stars . The scientist cover where they will eventually be over the next 500 million years .
Orbits of the nearby stars around the galaxy
The catalog and multiple scientific paper on its discoveries are published inAstronomy & Astrophysics . The full data release will be published in 2022 , the year the missionary work nominally ends , although the team has put forward a proposal for an extended mission into 2025 .
