Today, an international team of astronomers announced the most detailed ever catalogue of stars in a part of our Milky Way galaxy. The @ESAGaia #EDR3 data release provides us with valuable information on over 1.8 billion stars in our solar neighbourhood. (Image credit: ESA)

This data from @ESAGaia includes the distance, stellar position, and movement of these stars, which allows astronomers to understand where they were located in the past, and where they may move to in the future.

This video will give you an idea of the measurements taken by @ESAGaia, and how the data contributes to our understanding of stellar dynamics and movement within 326 light-years of our Sun: (credit: ESA)

The @ESAGaia #EDR3 data release also shines light on the Milky Way’s famous neighbours, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. In this video, you can see how the #EDR3 data tells us more about the dynamics of the LMC and SMC: (credit: ESA)

You can read more about the #EDR3 data release and what it means for astronomy here: https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/news/gaia-most-accurate-data-ever-nearly-two-billion-stars