Two million stars on the move

A new video from ESA’s Gaia mission reveals the changing face of our Galaxy, the Milky Way. The motion of two million stars is traced 5 million years into the future using data from the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution, one of the products of the first Gaia data release (DR1).

This provides a preview of the stellar motions to be revealed in Gaia’s future data releases, which will enable scientists to investigate the formation history of the Milky Way.

You’ll find further details on ESA’s Gaia mission.