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                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2024 August 4

                          Gaia: Here Comes the Sun
          Credit: Galaxy Illustration: N. Risinger (skysurvey.org);
      Star Data: Gaia Mission, ESA, A. S. Sell+¬s (U. Heidelberg) et al.

   Explanation: What would it look like to return home from outside our
   galaxy? Although designed to answer greater questions, data from ESA's
   robotic Gaia mission is helping to provide a uniquely modern
   perspective on humanity's place in the universe. Gaia orbits the Sun
   near the Earth and resolves stars' positions so precisely that it can
   determine a slight shift from its changing vantage point over the
   course of a year, a shift that is proportionately smaller for more
   distant stars -- and so determines distance. In the first sequence of
   the video, an illustration of the Milky Way is shown that soon resolves
   into a three-dimensional visualization of Gaia star data. A few notable
   stars are labelled with their common names, while others stars are
   labelled with numbers from a Gaia catalog. Eventually, the viewer
   arrives in our stellar neighborhood where many stars were tracked by
   Gaia, and soon at our home star Sol, the Sun. At the video's end, the
   reflective glow of Sol's third planet becomes visible: Earth.

                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
                  NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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