2025 View of the Milky Way from Gaia Satellite Data
The European Space Agency (ESA)'s Gaia satellite was launched on December 19, 2013 with the goal of creating a 3D map of more than one billion stars throughout the Milky Way. In January 2025, the ESA released a new artist's impression of the Milky Way galaxy as viewed face-on, based on Gaia data.
The Gaia data shows the Milky Way does not have two "major" spiral arms plus a few "minor" spiral arms, as shown in the 2008 image of the Milky Way Galaxy by Robert Hurt of NASA and JPL-Caltech, based on data from the Spitzer Space Telescope. Rather, the Milky Way has several spiral arms, relatively equally prominent, with no clear distinction into "major" or "minor" spiral arms. In addition, the Milky Way's central bar is slightly less inclined with respect to the sun.
Here is the image from the Gaia Milky Way data:
For comparison, here is the 2008 image of the Milky Way Galaxy by Robert Hurt of NASA and JPL-Caltech currently used in Galaxies3D:
Going forward, we will gradually replace the 2008 NASA / JPL-Caltech images in Galaxies3D with the new ESA Gaia view of the Milky Way.
Bright Stars and Near Stars
Bright Stars in the Constellations
The Constellations and the Galactic, Supergalactic Planes
