Gaia

A Journey of Discovery Through a Highly Dynamic Universe

About the Gaia ProjectNothing in the sky stands still: stars travel through the Milky Way, asteroids orbit the Sun, some stars dance around invisible black holes, and entire galaxies move through space. For more than ten years, the European Gaia Project has been measuring these movements; data collection is now complete. Using the collected data, we can now determine how far away stars are from us and track their so-called proper motion—the minimal but measurable shift with which stars move across the sky over the years. These movements reveal where stars, asteroids, and entire star systems come from and how they evolve.Live Event on December 2, 2026On December 2, 2026, ESA will release the fourth major data release from the Gaia mission. It is based on five and a half years of observations—nearly twice as many as its predecessor—and, for the first time, includes all planned data products for this period, including individual measurements for each celestial object. As a result, the data volume will grow to approximately 400 terabytes—about forty times the size of the previous catalog.Celebrate this special day together with researchers from the Gaia Consortium! At 3:00 p.m., scientists from the European Gaia Consortium will welcome you to the Zeiss Grand Planetarium to provide insights into the mission and its latest data. After an introduction accessible to everyone, we’ll embark on a journey of discovery through our universe beneath the dome: What do the new data reveal about the Milky Way and the neighboring Magellanic Clouds? How can dormant black holes be detected? And what insights do the measurements provide about asteroids and fundamental questions in physics?A live link to the Europe-wide ESA broadcast will connect the event with the international research community. Afterward, you’ll have the opportunity to speak personally with the participating scientists in the foyer.Participants include researchers from the Astronomical Computing Institute at the Center for Astronomy at Heidelberg University, the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, the Lohrmann Observatory at TU Dresden, and the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics in Potsdam.Image © ESA/ATG medialab; Background: ESO/S. BrunierTranslated with DeepL

Meeting point: Zeiss-Großplanetarium | Planetarium

Next date:

• Date Wednesday, 02/December/2026 15:00 bis 16:40
• Venue Zeiss-Großplanetarium
• Address Prenzlauer Allee 80, 10405 Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg