'Most-precise' 3D map of Milky Way with billion stars made
European Space Agency's Gaia satellite has produced a detailed 3D map showing over 1.7 billion stars in the Milky Way and neighbouring galaxies. The catalogue comprises of the stars' distance from Earth, their colour, and motion through space. Launched in 2013, Gaia gathers data on about 100,000 stars per minute from a distance of about 1.5 million kilometres from Earth.