Gaia, Europe’s Milky Way–mapping spacecraft, shut down earlier this year. It was arguably the most important—and most overlooked—astronomy project of the 21st century ...

Goodnight, Gaia. The European Space Agency star-tracking satellite ceased operations on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, after 12 years mapping the Milky Way.

New data from the Gaia space telescope are a cosmic goldmine, including never-seen-before stars, 380 gravity-lensed quasars, and the orbits of over 150,000 asteroids.

Astronomers bid an emotional farewell to Gaia, expressing their gratitude for its more than decade-long mission that gave us groundbreaking insights into our home galaxy, the Milky Way.

After more than a decade of mapping billions of stars across the Milky Way and beyond, a groundbreaking spacecraft is retiring. The European Space Agency’s space-based observatory known as Gaia ...