--- title: Milky Way Galaxy: Gaia Satellite Maps Over a Billion Stars description: A new map by the Gaia satellite, launched by the European Space Agency in 2013, paints a three-dimensional portrait of the entire galaxy. canonical: https://time.com/4494202/milky-way-galaxy-map/ author: Jeffrey Kluger article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-15T19:38:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T00:36:12.471Z article:section: Science og:title: A New Map of the Milky Way Contains Over 1 Billion Stars og:description: The map paints a three-dimensional portrait of the entire galaxy og:url: https://time.com/4494202/milky-way-galaxy-map/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdbdba2653964d1e9/6988a61ffb4eac176c88f1cd/gaia-first-sky-map.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: gaia-first-sky-map og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A New Map of the Milky Way Contains Over 1 Billion Stars twitter:description: The map paints a three-dimensional portrait of the entire galaxy twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdbdba2653964d1e9/6988a61ffb4eac176c88f1cd/gaia-first-sky-map.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A First Map of the Entire Milky Way  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Sep 15, 2016 7:38 PM UTC  An all-sky view of stars in our Galaxy – the Milky Way – and neighboring galaxies, based on the first year of observations from ESA’s Gaia satellite, from July 2014 to Sept. 2015. An all-sky view of stars in our Galaxy – the Milky Way – and neighboring galaxies, based on the first year of observations from ESA’s Gaia satellite, from July 2014 to Sept. 2015.ESA/Gaia/DPAC  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Sep 15, 2016 7:38 PM UTC Nearly a million miles from [Earth](http://time.com/4466572/jeff-williams-astronaut-photos-space/), at a gravitationally stable point in space on the opposite side of our planet from the sun, is the greatest little mapmaker that ever existed. It had better be great because its job is huge: to paint a three-dimensional portrait of the entire galaxy. That, if you’re counting, is a structure measuring 100,000 light years across—which is an awful lot of real estate to keep your eye on. The mapmaker in question is the [Gaia satellite](http://www.esa.int/Our%5FActivities/Space%5FScience/Gaia/Gaia%5Fs%5Fbillion-star%5Fmap%5Fhints%5Fat%5Ftreasures%5Fto%5Fcome), a 4,500-lb. (2,030 kg) craft launched by the European Space Agency in 2013\. Gaia’s mission managers don’t pretend they can spot every object in the galaxy, which includes an estimated 300 billion stars to say nothing of planets, moons, asteroids and more. But a good 1 billion stars ought to help them take the [Milky Way](http://time.com/4232615/milky-way-galaxy-new-photo/)‘s overall measure and reveal new clues about its structure, formation and history. This image, released on Sept. 14, provides a first rough glimpse at the map to come. So far, Gaia has actually exceeded its original goal, getting a reasonably good bead on 1.142 billion stars. Much more precise positional measurements, along with the stars’ apparent motion relative to Earth, are still to come. Space is a very big place. It will be a long, long time before we map it all, but Gaia offers a good start. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4494202/milky-way-galaxy-map/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4494202/milky-way-galaxy-map/"},"headline":"A First Map of the Entire Milky Way","datePublished":"2016-09-15T19:38:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:36:12.471Z","description":"The largest all-sky survey of our galaxy ever assembled","url":"https://time.com/4494202/milky-way-galaxy-map/","keywords":["Space","astronomy","milky way","galaxy","Science topic","esa"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdbdba2653964d1e9/6988a61ffb4eac176c88f1cd/gaia-first-sky-map.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jeffrey Kluger","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdbdba2653964d1e9/6988a61ffb4eac176c88f1cd/gaia-first-sky-map.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"gaia-first-sky-map","caption":"An all-sky view of stars in our Galaxy – the Milky Way – and neighboring galaxies, based on the first year of observations from ESA’s Gaia satellite, from July 2014 to Sept. 2015.","creditText":"ESA/Gaia/DPAC","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4494202/milky-way-galaxy-map/","name":"A First Map of the Entire Milky Way"}}]}] ```