1 of 5000

|

metal prints space metal prints map metal prints science metal prints astronomy metal prints astronomical metal prints celestial body metal prints celestial object metal prints heavenly body metal prints deep space metal prints deep sky metal prints space exploration metal prints galaxy metal prints galaxies metal prints milky way metal prints mapping metal prints

photographs space photos map photos science photos astronomy photos astronomical photos celestial body photos celestial object photos heavenly body photos deep space photos deep sky photos space exploration photos galaxy photos galaxies photos milky way photos mapping photos

Add This Artwork to Your Favorites Collection

Comment

Add This Artwork to Your Favorites Collection

Comment

The Gaia space telescope is surveying stars in our galaxy and local galactic neighborhood in order to build a precise 3D map of the Milky Way and answer questions about its structure, origin and evolution. To achieve its scientific aims, it points with ultra-high precision, and to enable the control team to monitor spacecraft performance, Gaia regularly reports to the ground information about its current attitude and the stars that have been observed. These engineering data have been accumulated over 18 months and combined to create a "map" of the observed star densities, from which this ghostly virtual image of our Milky Way galaxy can be discerned, showing the attendant globular clusters and Magellanic clouds. Where there are more stars, as in the galactic center, the map is brighter; where there are fewer, the map is darker. The map includes brightness data corresponding to several million stars.