ESA / DPAC / Airbus DS
This is a test image of the young globular cluster NGC 1818 in the large Magellanic Cloud. It was taken during the calibration phase of the satellite, before beginning the scientific part of the mission ; the satellite is thus not completely focussed, nor is its motion optimized.
The field of view covers an area of 212 x 212 arcseconds, and the image is such that North is at the top and the East is to the left.
It so happens that this first image will also be one of the last ! In effect, in its normal operating mode, Gaia willl detect specific objects, and send only the corresponding vignetttes rather than the large stellar field images which serve only for testing.