New Gaia data paint the most detailed picture yet of the Milky Way
The catalog includes asteroids, galaxies and the stuff between stars for the first time
New data from the Gaia spacecraft were used to make this map of interstellar dust in the Milky Way, with high concentrations (black) diminishing (from yellow to blue) farther away from the galactic plane. The patterns here carry traces of billions of years of galaxy mergers, supernovas and newborn stars.