First light: The young star cluster NGC1818 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, taken as part of calibration and testing before the science phase of the Gaia telescope mission begins. Europe’s billion-star surveyor Gaia is slowly being brought into focus as it begins its mission to create the most accurate map of the Milky Way begins. Launched in December, the satellite has now reached its destination... 

Europe has launched a billion dollar state of the art space telescope, that should bring back home the most detailed 3D map of our galaxy. The five-year-long space voyage of the telescope named Gaia has started from Kourou in French Guiana, where it has taken off on top of a Russian-built Soyuz-Fregat rocket. The European Space Agency has dubbed the Gaia telescope “the billion star surveyor” which...