Sometimes, even the most dazzling celestial wonder might be hiding right before your eyes. Case in point: Gaia 1, a brilliant star cluster scientists have found by mining observations from the European Space Agency's Gaia space observatory.
Astronomers use a surprisingly simple method to find clusters of stars: measure a star's distance and position, count its neighbors, repeat. The method of cataloguing stars was pioneered in the 1700s and 1800s by sibling astronomers William and Caroline Herschel, who used it to estimate the shape of our galaxy, the video said. This is similar to the way cartographers used to create maps from surveying measurements.
Data from Gaia has allowed scientists to extend this 18th-century technique to look for clusters that they have previously been unable to detect. The spacecraft will analyze and monitor billions of stars in the Milky Way over its five-year mission. [Photos: Gaia Spacecraft's Milky Way Maps]
In May 2017, astronomers announced that Gaia's sensitive instruments and software had identified a star cluster 30 light-years wide, which they subsequently named Gaia 1. Although Gaia 1 is large and bright, it's obscured by Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, which is less than half a degree away.
"Countless generations of astronomers must have stared right at Gaia 1, blissfully unaware of its existence," the scientists wrote in the study that announced its discovery.
Astronomers identified Gaia 1 in the first round of data released from the Gaia mission. As the spacecraft gathers more information, it promises to provide an even better account of our place in the universe.
Email Harrison Tasoff at htasoff@space.com or follow him @harrisontasoff. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
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