Gaia space probe reveals more Milky Way secrets

The Gaia space probe unveiled its latest discoveries yesterday in its quest to map the Milky Way in unprecedented detail, surveying nearly two million stars and revealing mysterious “starquakes” which sweep across the fiery giants like vast tsunamis.

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PARIS • The mission’s third data set, which was released to eagerly waiting astronomers around the world, “revolutionises our understanding of the galaxy”, the European Space Agency (ESA) said.

“It’s the Swiss Army knife of astrophysics – there is not a single astronomer who does not use its data, directly or indirectly,” said Dr Francois Mignard, a member of the Gaia team.

Some of the map’s new insights are close to home, such as a catalogue of more than 156,000 asteroids in our solar system “whose orbits the instrument has calculated with incomparable precision”, Dr Mignard said.

But Gaia also sees beyond the Milky Way, spotting 2.9 million other galaxies and 1.9 million quasars – the stunningly bright hearts of galaxies powered by supermassive black holes.