According to the latest release provided by the Observatory of the European Space Agency, the GAIA telescope has made several significant discoveries. The telescope has discovered 500,000 stars in a nearby cluster, nearly 400 gravitational lenses, and an orbit of approximately 156,000 asteroids. These data were obtained as part of the third release of the observatory, with the first part being published in June 2022.
With the new data, astronomers can study the structure of accumulation of stars in the omega of the Centaurus, the largest globular accumulation visible from the ground. Alexei Mints, a member of the GAIA collaboration at the Libin-Tan Institute of Astrophysics in Potsdam, stated that these data provide a full map of omega Centaurus, allowing for the study of star movement and more.
The newly discovered stars in the cluster are weaker than many previously discovered stars. The GAIA telescope has observed ten times more stars in the core of this cluster than previously known.
Among the discoveries made by the GAIA telescope are gravitational lenses. These lenses allow astronomers to peer into space and observe ancient galaxies. The GAIA telescope has even found evidence about the nature of dark matter. Christine Ducuran, an astrophysicist from the Laboratory of Astrophysics at Burgundy, explains that the telescope has revealed distant lensed quasars, which are extremely bright and energy-rich galactic nuclei fueled by black holes.
The next release of GAIA data, which will include observations of eight other cosmological regions, is planned to be released by 2026. The final fifth release is expected to be published no earlier than the end of 2030.