Gaia in the UK

Taking the Galactic Census

Gaia Alerts app released

Gaia Alerts app screenshot

Screenshot of Gaia Alerts app: A map showing the relative location of each new event on a constellation map and a list of alerts.

We made an App! Now you can get Gaia Alerts sent to your iOS device. Download it now from the Apple App store https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gaia-alerts/id1144470584.

Gaia's five year mission is to construct the largest and most precise 3D map of our galaxy, the Milky Way, this will contain over 1 billion astronomical objects, mainly stars but also planets, comets, asteroids and quasars among others. 

The spacecraft will monitor each of its target stars about 70 times over the course of the mission in order to measure the precise motion of each star. 

The Gaia Alerts project finds objects which change, appear, or disappear in the data sent from the Gaia satellite, and announces them to the world in real time. 

These objects are called transients and they could, among other things, be stars exploding as supernovae, or black holes swallowing stars...

The Gaia Alerts App provides push notifications of all these transients (alerts) from Gaia.

Main Features:

  • Push notifications to keep you up to date with the newest discoveries;
  • A map showing the relative location of each new event on a constellation map;
  • Details of each alert including: image, classification, position, magnitude, date, relevant news articles relating to the alert;
  • Information on the Gaia project.

The Android version will follow soon, and we'll post an update when it's available. In the meantime we welcome feedback and comments on version 1 of the App using our contact form.

Page last updated: 26 June 2019