The European Space Agency's Gaia probe will release its latest batch of observations on June 13, containing information on hundreds of millions of the brightest objects in the sky, such as tens of millions, according to Space.com. chemical composition of stars, etc. 
where do stars come from
By measuring the precise positions, distances and velocities of a large number of stars, Gaia can show not only what the Milky Way looks like now, but also what it was like in the past. Because objects in the universe obey certain laws of physics, astronomers can use existing data to simulate the past trajectories of these stars to understand the "plot" that has played out in the Milky Way over the past millions or even billions of years. Scientists have been able to do this with previously obtained data, and the new dataset will allow them to do even more.
In the new dataset, the Gaia team will for the first time publish the "astrophysical parameters" of 500 million stars. Gaia project scientist José de Bruyne points out that these parameters come from Gaia's measurements of stellar spectra (essentially "fingerprints" of the light these stars absorb), revealing the chemical chemistry of each measured star Information such as composition, quality, age, temperature and brightness.
How the Milky Way is Connected
Although Gaia has been scanning the Milky Way since 2014, there are still many unsolved mysteries in the Milky Way, and studying it is no easy task. Because it's inside the Milky Way, Gaia can't even peer through the thick cloud of dust and gas that obscures the center of the Milky Way to peer into the other side of the galactic disk.
But as the data collected by "Gaia" increases day by day, coupled with the help of other observational technologies such as radio astronomy, the whole picture of the Milky Way is slowly emerging, and scientists are getting closer and closer to solving major puzzles such as how dark matter is distributed in the Milky Way. .
Bruin explained: "All matter in the Milky Way exerts a gravitational force on each star, and this gravitational force determines the speed at which the star moves. Therefore, by measuring the motion of the stars, we can probe the distribution of matter in the Milky Way, which is important for It's important to figure out how the Milky Way is connected."
Another mystery related to the distribution of stars in the Milky Way has to do with the Milky Way's signature spiral structure, the spiral arms. Astronomers mostly agree that the four spiral arms of the Milky Way appear to be emanating from the galactic center and are made of stars and gas, but there is still much debate about the size of the individual spiral arms and their exact location in the galactic disk. The new data may help astronomers further clarify these questions.
Moreover, "Gaia" can not only see what these spiral arms look like now, but also help astronomers to simulate what these spiral arms looked like in the past and how they will evolve in the future.
With these new data, astronomers will be able to see farther and directly sample larger parts of the spiral arms, said Anthony Brown, an astronomer at Leiden University in the Netherlands and president of the Gaia Society for Data Processing and Analysis. Still, understanding the galaxy as a whole remains a challenge.
What Happened to the Milky Way's "Childhood"
In addition, the data provided by Gaia enables astronomers to conduct what is known as "galactic archaeology." By reconstructing the trajectories of millions of stars, they can learn about events that occurred billions of years ago, including the catastrophic collision of the Milky Way with other galaxies, which produced ripples that are still observable in the Milky Way today.
In previously released data from "Gaia", scientists discovered the collision of the Milky Way with a smaller galaxy called "Gaia Enceladus", which occurred between 8 billion and 11 billion years ago. At the time, the Milky Way was much smaller than it is now. The collision with Gaia's Enceladus was "the last major merger that the Milky Way experienced in its childhood," Brown said. He hopes astronomers can use the new dataset to look further back into the Milky Way's history and track some earlier collisions.
To this day, the Milky Way continues to devour smaller galaxies. Models suggest that the Large Magellanic Cloud and Small Magellanic Cloud, two dwarf galaxies orbiting the outer reaches of the Milky Way, will one day be completely engulfed by the Milky Way.
Just as it was born from a violent collision, so will the Milky Way die one day from a violent collision. In about 4.5 billion years, the Milky Way will collide with its nearest large galaxy neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy. Brown said the newly released Gaia data may shed some light on the catastrophic event.
Bruin said that Gaia is currently the scientific mission that produces the most scientific papers. The June 13 data release will also contain the largest set of information on the Milky Way's binary star system ever, and it is also expected to lead to some groundbreaking discoveries. In addition, Gaia has built the largest database of the chemical composition of asteroids in the solar system to date, and scientists are developing better and better algorithms to learn more about the stars that Gaia sees.
The Gaia space telescope will continue to scan the sky until it runs out of fuel in 2025.
(Original title: Raise the "hijab" of the Milky Way: a new batch of observation data from the "Gaia" telescope will be released soon)
Based on data provided by Gaia, scientists have created this map showing the paths of 40,000 stars within 326 light-years of the solar system over the next 400,000 years. Image source: US Space Network
Launched in 2013, the Gaia space telescope aims to create the most detailed map of the Milky Way by mapping the precise positions, distances and velocities of the nearly 2 billion stars in the Milky Way. Astronomers say that although these 2 billion stars account for only about 1% of the total number of stars in the Milky Way, with the blessing of complex algorithms and other information, they can use this data to get a glimpse of the entire Milky Way and unravel information about the Milky Way and its stars. some of the great mysteries.where do stars come from
By measuring the precise positions, distances and velocities of a large number of stars, Gaia can show not only what the Milky Way looks like now, but also what it was like in the past. Because objects in the universe obey certain laws of physics, astronomers can use existing data to simulate the past trajectories of these stars to understand the "plot" that has played out in the Milky Way over the past millions or even billions of years. Scientists have been able to do this with previously obtained data, and the new dataset will allow them to do even more.
In the new dataset, the Gaia team will for the first time publish the "astrophysical parameters" of 500 million stars. Gaia project scientist José de Bruyne points out that these parameters come from Gaia's measurements of stellar spectra (essentially "fingerprints" of the light these stars absorb), revealing the chemical chemistry of each measured star Information such as composition, quality, age, temperature and brightness.
The Milky Way has four spiral arms, but scientists still dispute their size and location. Image source: US Space Network
The atmospheres of 30 million of these stars have the same chemical composition as the molecular clouds of those stars that were born billions of years ago, Bruin said. By combining the chemical composition information with modeling the stellar trajectories, astronomers can Trace the birthplaces of stellar populations inside (and outside) the Milky Way.How the Milky Way is Connected
Although Gaia has been scanning the Milky Way since 2014, there are still many unsolved mysteries in the Milky Way, and studying it is no easy task. Because it's inside the Milky Way, Gaia can't even peer through the thick cloud of dust and gas that obscures the center of the Milky Way to peer into the other side of the galactic disk.
But as the data collected by "Gaia" increases day by day, coupled with the help of other observational technologies such as radio astronomy, the whole picture of the Milky Way is slowly emerging, and scientists are getting closer and closer to solving major puzzles such as how dark matter is distributed in the Milky Way. .
Bruin explained: "All matter in the Milky Way exerts a gravitational force on each star, and this gravitational force determines the speed at which the star moves. Therefore, by measuring the motion of the stars, we can probe the distribution of matter in the Milky Way, which is important for It's important to figure out how the Milky Way is connected."
Another mystery related to the distribution of stars in the Milky Way has to do with the Milky Way's signature spiral structure, the spiral arms. Astronomers mostly agree that the four spiral arms of the Milky Way appear to be emanating from the galactic center and are made of stars and gas, but there is still much debate about the size of the individual spiral arms and their exact location in the galactic disk. The new data may help astronomers further clarify these questions.
Moreover, "Gaia" can not only see what these spiral arms look like now, but also help astronomers to simulate what these spiral arms looked like in the past and how they will evolve in the future.
With these new data, astronomers will be able to see farther and directly sample larger parts of the spiral arms, said Anthony Brown, an astronomer at Leiden University in the Netherlands and president of the Gaia Society for Data Processing and Analysis. Still, understanding the galaxy as a whole remains a challenge.
What Happened to the Milky Way's "Childhood"
In addition, the data provided by Gaia enables astronomers to conduct what is known as "galactic archaeology." By reconstructing the trajectories of millions of stars, they can learn about events that occurred billions of years ago, including the catastrophic collision of the Milky Way with other galaxies, which produced ripples that are still observable in the Milky Way today.
In previously released data from "Gaia", scientists discovered the collision of the Milky Way with a smaller galaxy called "Gaia Enceladus", which occurred between 8 billion and 11 billion years ago. At the time, the Milky Way was much smaller than it is now. The collision with Gaia's Enceladus was "the last major merger that the Milky Way experienced in its childhood," Brown said. He hopes astronomers can use the new dataset to look further back into the Milky Way's history and track some earlier collisions.
To this day, the Milky Way continues to devour smaller galaxies. Models suggest that the Large Magellanic Cloud and Small Magellanic Cloud, two dwarf galaxies orbiting the outer reaches of the Milky Way, will one day be completely engulfed by the Milky Way.
Just as it was born from a violent collision, so will the Milky Way die one day from a violent collision. In about 4.5 billion years, the Milky Way will collide with its nearest large galaxy neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy. Brown said the newly released Gaia data may shed some light on the catastrophic event.
Bruin said that Gaia is currently the scientific mission that produces the most scientific papers. The June 13 data release will also contain the largest set of information on the Milky Way's binary star system ever, and it is also expected to lead to some groundbreaking discoveries. In addition, Gaia has built the largest database of the chemical composition of asteroids in the solar system to date, and scientists are developing better and better algorithms to learn more about the stars that Gaia sees.
The Gaia space telescope will continue to scan the sky until it runs out of fuel in 2025.
(Original title: Raise the "hijab" of the Milky Way: a new batch of observation data from the "Gaia" telescope will be released soon)
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