ESA's Gaia Mission Unveils a Stellar Mystery, and Astronomers "Haven't Found Anything Quite Like It Before"

ESA's Gaia Mission Unveils a Stellar Mystery, and Astronomers "Haven't Found Anything Quite Like It Before"

The Gaia star surveyor has identified strange behavior in a group of stars rushing to escape their birthplace, which astronomers say are unlike any previously observed. Operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), Gaia ended its decade-long mission to map the Milky Way on January 15, 2025. It recorded how star families form as strings, streaming across space to form our galaxy. Of these groups of stars, the Ophion star family defies the tendency…

A Stellar Meltdown: 1,000 Young Stars Fly Apart, Leaving Astronomers Baffled

Astronomers using Gaia have uncovered an extraordinary cosmic mystery: a massive star family named Ophion that’s breaking all the rules. Unlike typical stellar siblings that stay close and drift together for eons, Ophion’s 1000+ young stars are scattering chaotically—and rapidly—across the Milky Way. Star Families In the Milky Way, stars often form in groups, essentially [...]