What is the Gaia mission of the European Space Agency? Gaia is surveying the entire Milky Way from a distance of 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, which is four times farther than the Moon. Launched in December 2013, Gaia has precisely measured the positions, distances, and motions of approximately 1.8 billion stars in the Milky Way. It captures 70 measurements of every star and generates vast amounts of data for the use of scientists. Data from Gaia is accessible to all science communities. The spacecraft's observations are so precise that they can detect the tiny wobbles in a star's position caused by the gravitational tug of orbiting planets. Using Gaia, researchers reported that today's Milky Way is formed from gigantic galactic mergers. The mission has already produced an unprecedented catalog of stars, and its ongoing observations continue to revolutionize our knowledge of the Milky Way and beyond. Please support our channel by giving it a thumbs up, commenting, and sharing.