Gaia

Gaia is a European Space Agency space observatory that measures stellar positions, parallaxes, and motions to map the Milky Way in three dimensions.

Astrometry: The measurement of the positions and motions of celestial bodies. Gaia’s central task is measuring stellar positions and their changes across the sky.
Gaia Data Release 3: The 2022 release of Gaia observations, including astrometry, photometry, and classifications for nearly two billion sources. It is a major public catalog produced by the observatory.
European Space Agency: An intergovernmental organization that coordinates civilian space activities among European member states. ESA selected, built, and operates the Gaia mission.
Gaia mission extension: The continuation of Gaia operations beyond its original five-year nominal mission. Extended observations increased measurement precision and expanded the time baseline for motion studies.
James Webb Space Telescope: A space observatory designed primarily for infrared astronomy. Unlike Gaia’s astrometric survey, Webb studies faint and distant objects in detail.
Parallax: The apparent shift in an object's position when viewed from different locations. Gaia derives distances from stars’ annual apparent shifts caused by Earth’s orbit.
Gaia Catalogue of Nearby Stars: A Gaia-derived catalog identifying stars within 100 parsecs of the Sun. It applies Gaia measurements to assemble a census of the local stellar neighborhood.
Hipparcos: The European Space Agency’s first space astrometry mission, which operated from 1989 to 1993. Gaia extends the pioneering space-based star catalog made by its predecessor.
Stellar kinematics: The study of the motions of stars and stellar systems. Gaia’s proper motions and radial velocities enabled detailed maps of stellar movement.
Hubble Space Telescope: A space observatory that observes the universe across ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared wavelengths. Hubble targets detailed imaging and spectroscopy rather than Gaia’s all-sky precision astrometry.

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