A corner stone of the European Space Agency (ESA), Gaia is an ambitious project for the study of our Galaxy. The satellite was launched from Kourou by a Soyouz-Fregat rocket on the 19th of December 2013 at 10h12 Paris time. Its principal purpose is to survey of over a billion stars in the Mily Way, and to determine, with heretofore unequalled precision, their positions, distances, motions and physical properties.
Combining astrometric, photometric and spectroscopic data, Gaia will throw a completely new light on our Galaxy, and open the door to a detailed study of its three-dimensional structure, its kinematics, its origin and its evolution.
Le site Gaia