With the launch of Europe's Gaia star-mapping mission, scientists are one step closer to deciphering the history of the Milky Way, and to predicting how it might evolve in the future. Equipped with twin silicon-carbide telescopes built around a one-billion- pixel focal array-the largest ever built-the European Space Agency's (ESA) Gaia mission is designed to survey a billion stars in the galaxy, providing scientists with the most precise 3-D map to date for understanding its composition and evolution.
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