Around 1.7 million stars analyzed by ESA's Gaia Mission

The European Space Agency (ESA), through the Gaia Mission, has released a new set of data on the mapping and exact position of around 1.7 million stars in the Milky Way, which have been collected over the last two years. This data from space has been analyzed by a Portuguese team from the Multidisciplinary Centre for Astrophysics (CENTRA), which has been part of the mission since the beginning and has the task of transforming the information collected into visualizations of the Milky Way.

The work carried out by the Portuguese team has made it possible to develop a unique visualization platform, accessible to all in the Gaia Mission field on the European Space Agency's portal. The data collected includes information on the positions, distance indicators and movements of stars, as well as high-precision measurements of asteroids that make up the Solar System and stars beyond our galaxy.

The Mission has revealed details of the composition of the Milky Way's star population and the way these stars move, which has contributed to further research into their formation and evolution.

More information at www.esa.int