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An all-sky view of the Milky Way Galaxy and neighboring galaxies, based on measurements of nearly 1.7 billion stars. This map shows the density of stars observed by ESA’s Gaia satellite between July 2014 to May 2016. Brighter regions indicate denser concentrations of stars, while darker regions correspond to patches of the sky where fewer stars are observed. In contrast to Gaia's color map, which is dominated by the brightest and most massive stars, this view shows the distribution of all stars, including faint and distant ones. The elongated feature visible below the galactic center is the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy, a small satellite of the Milky Way that is leaving a stream of stars behind as an effect of our galaxy’s gravitational tug. The two bright objects in the lower right of the image are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, two dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way. The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) can also be seen in the lower left of the image, along with its satellite, the Triangulum Galaxy (M33).
