Gaia telescope has gone into operational orbit

According to the announcement of the European Space Agency (ESA), on January 8, the Gaia telescope slipped into its operational orbit before carrying out its mission of collecting data for the establishment of the plate. most detailed map of the Milky Way.

The announcement said that after being launched from ESA's base in the French Guiana overseas three weeks ago, Gaia had "anchored " at L2, a stable point of gravity in the universe about 1 , 5 million km.

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This is a rather complicated activity due to the avoidance of the Sun from sophisticated equipment inside Gaia. Next week, the telescope will be adjusted to a "anchor" position a bit before starting the 180-day journey around L2.

Gaia is the most modern telescope made by ESA so far with the cost of 740 million euros (1.02 billion USD). The equipment inside Gaia will be tested and tested in the next 4 months before entering the 5-year operation phase.

It is expected that Gaia will collect data related to billions of stars, chart these stars, their movement, temperature, brightness and composition.

The data provided by Gaia will help make the most accurate 3D mapping ever to the Milky Way and allow astronomers to determine the Milky Way's origin and development.