2025 View of the Milky Way from Gaia Satellite Data

A New, More Accurate Map of the Milky Way Galaxy

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.

Prior to 2025, Galaxies3D used a modified version of the 2008 image of the Milky Way Galaxy by Robert Hurt of NASA and JPL-Caltech, based on data from the Spitzer Space Telescope, to project onto base grids when displaying stars, star clusters, and nebulae in the Milky Way. Galaxies3D now uses a modified version of the ESA's more accurate 2025 image of the Milky Way, based on the Gaia satellite data.

Differences Between the 2025 ESA and the 2008 NASA Milky Way Maps

The 2008 NASA image of the Milky Way Galaxy shows the Milky Way having two "major" spiral arms, plus a few "minor" spiral arms. The Sun resides in the "Orion Spur," a minor spiral arm. The 2025 ESA Milky Way Map shows the Milky Way having several spiral arms, relatively equally prominent, with no clear distinction into "major" or "minor" spiral arms. The Sun resides in the "Orion Arm." In addition, the Milky Way's central bar is slightly less inclined with respect to the sun.

Here is the modified 2008 image of the Milky Way Galaxy by Robert Hurt of NASA and JPL-Caltech, used in Galaxies3D prior to 2025:

from Milky Way Galaxy annotated, by Robert Hurt of NASA and JPL-Caltech

In Galaxies3D, the original 2025 ESA Map of the Milky Way (Credit: ESA/Gaia/DPAC, Stefan Payne-Wardenaar) has been modified by:

• applying a radial gradient to the image to emphasize the outer spiral arms
• increasing the contrast
• adding a distance grid and galactic longitude grid identical to that used in the 2008 NASA Milky Way. The small yellow circle around the Sun has a radius of 750 light years. Successive red circles are spaced every 5000 light years from the Sun.

Here is the modified version of the 2025 ESA Map of the Milky Way now used in Galaxies3D:

Galaxies3D modified version of the 2025 ESA Milky Way map based on Gaia satellite data.

Bright Stars, Near Stars, Solar Systems

Bright Stars in the Constellations

The Constellations and the Galactic, Supergalactic Planes