Gaia DR4 content - Gaia

Gaia Data Release 4 (Gaia DR4)

The original Gaia DR4 data will become available from the Gaia ESA Archive. The expected content of Gaia DR4, pending certain processing and validation activities, is described here and summarised in this table.

Significant changes compared to previous Gaia data releases

Gaia DR4 is different from previous data releases in several ways:

Number and data volume of tables and other products

Gaia DR4 will contain a large number and diversity of data products. Lower-level data such as the individual observations underlying the source-level catalogue parameters will be released as well. Consequently, the total data volume of Gaia DR4 is approximately 500 TB with the largest fraction associated to the lower-level products. The total data volume of Gaia DR3 is 10 TB.

Content of the main source catalogues

In contrast to previous releases, data will be published for all processed sources, which amount to some 2.7 billion sources in total.

The gaia_source table in Gaia DR4 now contains a subset of about 2 billion sources considered to have both high-quality astrometry and photometry. With respect to previous data releases, the parameters in this table are now consolidated from several different processing modules such that the best-suited model has been applied for a given source (e.g. a binary-star model instead of the default single-star model).

The gaia_source table is complemented by the following four tables that contain the results from the dedicated processing pipelines for all 2.7 billion sources:

all_source_astrometry: Results for all sources from the core astrometry pipeline
all_source_photometry: Results for all sources from the core photometry pipeline
all_source_rvs: Results for all sources from the core spectroscopy pipeline
all_source_flags: Compiles a selection of flags for each source published in the Gaia catalogue.

Summary of expected tables in the Gaia DR4 archive

The columns of the table below have the following meaning:

Id: Identifier that will eventually map to the corresponding section in the data model documentation.
Data model chapter: Indicates the name of the data model chapter. The Gaia DR4 draft data model will be published in advance of the data release.
Gaia Archive Table Name: Indicates the table name in the ESA Gaia Archive.
Description: Description of the data set.
Category: Helps to distinguish between the different data sets.
New in DR4: Inidcates if the type of data was already published with Gaia DR3 or not. All data published with Gaia DR4 will be new, but some data product types have not been published before. These are indicated with "NEW". "NEW in Archive" marks products that were published elsewhere, e.g. on Cosmos, in previous releases .
Data level: Indicative data level of the product. Level 1 (DL1) corresponds to image data, i.e. CCD pixel/sample values. Level 2 (DL2) corresponds to epoch data, i.e. time-resolved processing results usually per CCD transit. Level 3 (DL3) corresponds to source-level data with summary results per celestial source. Level 4 (DL4) corresponds to derived quantities that incorporate astrophysical models and priors.
Label: Helps to distinguish between the different data sets.

The content of this table is under development and changes can be expected. Last update: 27 March 2025.

Search:

Id	Data Model Chapter	Gaia Archive Table Name	Description	Category	New in DR4	Data level	Label
01.01	Main source catalogues	gaia_source	Sources considered to have both high quality astrometry and photometry. In contrast to previous data releases, the parameters in this table are consolidated from several different processing modules.	Main		DL3	General
01.02	Main source catalogues	gaia_source_environment	Astrometry, photometry, and related information for sources detected by the SEAPipe processing in the surrounding of sources in the main Gaia source catalogue.	Main	NEW	DL3	General
01.03	Main source catalogues	all_source_astrometry	Astrometric parameters obtained for all sources (except those in crowded_field_source and gaia_source_environment).	Main	NEW	DL3	Astrometry
01.04	Main source catalogues	all_source_photometry	Photometric parameters obtained for all sources (except those in crowded_field_source and gaia_source_environment).	Main	NEW	DL3	Photometry
01.05	Main source catalogues	all_source_rvs	Parameters such as radial velocities, spectral line broadening, and Grvs magnitudes, derived from the Radial Velocity Spectrometer (RVS).	Main	NEW	DL3	Spectroscopy
01.06	Main source catalogues	all_source_flags	Compiles a selection of flags for each source published in the Gaia catalogue.	Main	NEW	DL3	Classification
01.07	Main source catalogues	bright_source_astrometry	Astrometric parameters of 48 of the 51 brightest stellar sources in the sky, obtained using a special observation mode and special data processing methods.	Main	NEW	DL3	Astrometry
02.01	Astrophysical parameter tables	ap_chem	Abundances of chemical elements of stars derived from RVS spectra by GSP-Spec	Main		DL4	Parameters
02.02	Astrophysical parameter tables	ap_class	Classification probabilities and astrophysical parameters of sources derived by Discrete Source Classification (DSC), Outlier Analysis (OA), and UCA from the Apsis processing chain.	Main		DL4	Classification
02.03	Astrophysical parameter tables	ap_class_ir	Classification probabilities and parameters of sources derived by DSC from the Apsis processing chain using Gaia data and external infrared photometry.	Main	NEW	DL4	Classification
02.04	Astrophysical parameter tables	ap_emission	Astrophysical properties of emission-line or active stars	Main		DL4	Parameters
02.05	Astrophysical parameter tables	ap_hot	Astrophysical parameters of hot stars	Main		DL4	Parameters
02.06	Astrophysical parameter tables	ap_rvs	Astrophysical parameters of stars derived from RVS spectra	Main		DL4	Parameters
02.07	Astrophysical parameter tables	ap_rvs_epoch	Astrophysical parameters, and in some cases the abundances, derived from the epoch Radial Velocity Spectrometer (RVS) spectra for RRLyrae and Cepheids by GSP-Spec.	Epoch	NEW	DL4	Parameters
02.08	Astrophysical parameter tables	ap_xp	Astrophysical parameters from BP/RP spectra derived with APSIS	Main		DL4	Parameters
02.09	Astrophysical parameter tables	ap_xp_epoch	Astrophysical parameters derived from the epoch RP spectra for ultra-cool dwarfs.	Epoch	NEW	DL4	Parameters
02.10	Astrophysical parameter tables	ap_xp_supp	Astrophysical parameters from BP/RP spectra derived with GSP-Phot	Main	NEW	DL4	Parameters
02.11	Astrophysical parameter tables	interstellar_medium_params	Diffuse Interstellar Band (DIB) parameters derived from stacked spectra binned in galactic latitude, longitude and distance.	Main		DL4	Parameters
02.12	Astrophysical parameter tables	interstellar_medium_spectra	Stacked Interstellar Medium Spectra as derived by DIB-Spec.	Main		DL4	Spectra
02.13	Astrophysical parameter tables	total_galactic_extinction_map	Total Galactic Extinction (TGE) map for the monochromatic extinction at 541.4 nm.	Main		DL4	Parameters
02.14	Astrophysical parameter tables	total_galactic_extinction_map_opt	This table provides an optimum version of the Total Galactic Extinction\nmap at a single HEALPix level 9.	Main		DL4	Parameters
02.15	Astrophysical parameter tables	oa_neuron_information	Each entry corresponds to parameters estimated for one particular neuron of the Self-Organised Map using the Outlier Analysis (OA) module.	Main		DL4	Parameters
02.16	Astrophysical parameter tables	oa_neuron_xp_spectra	Prototype BP/RP spectrum corresponding to each of the neurons of the Self-Organised Map produced by the Outlier Analysis	Main		DL3	Spectra
02.17	Astrophysical parameter tables	uca_neuron_information	Each entry corresponds to parameters estimated for one particular neuron of the Self-Organised Map using the UCA module	Main	NEW	DL4	Parameters
02.18	Astrophysical parameter tables	uca_neuron_xp_spectra	Prototype BP/RP spectrum for a particular neuron given in the uca_neuron_information table.	Main	NEW	DL3	Spectra
02.19	Astrophysical parameter tables	mcmc_samples_gsp_phot	Parameter distributions from MCMC chain of GSP-Phot	Main		DL4	Parameters
03.01	Crowded fields	crowded_field_source	Sources created with the crowded-field image analysis pipeline.	Main		DL3	General
03.02	Crowded fields	crowded_field_coverage_map	Coverage maps of Crowded Fields. For each HEALPix cell covering the crowded field region the number of scans is given.	Auxiliary	NEW	DL1	Image
03.03	Crowded fields	crowded_field_epoch_astrometry	Time series of astrometric data, i.e. the individual astrometric measurements for the sources treated in the special crowded-field processing.	Epoch	NEW	DL2	Astrometry
03.04	Crowded fields	crowded_field_image	Images of crowded-fields published as FITS files.	Image	NEW	DL1	Image
03.05	Crowded fields	crowded_field_image_summary	Metadata for crowded field images published as FITS files.	Main	NEW	DL1	Image
03.0N	Crowded fields	crowded_field_epoch_photometry	Time series of photometric data, i.e. the individual photometric measurements for the sources treated in the special crowded-field processing.	Epoch	NEW	DL2	Photometry
04.01	Auxiliary tables	commanded_scan_law	Representation of the Gaia scanning law over the 66 month time period covered by the Gaia Data Release 4 including the Ecliptic Pole Scanning at the beginning of the mission.	Auxiliary			General
04.02	Auxiliary tables	bam_observation	Data from the Basic-Angle Monitor (BAM), i.e. from the on-board metrology interferometer designed to continually measure the variations of the effective angle between the viewing directions of the two Gaia fields of view.	Auxiliary	NEW	DL1	Image
04.03	Auxiliary tables	gaia_gap	This table lists all time intervals excluded from the astrometric, photometric and/or spectroscopic data processing of the Gaia observations. Gaps are time periods where such observations have been ignored in the various processing pipelines.	Auxiliary	NEW in Archive		General
04.04	Auxiliary tables	gbot_observation	Ground-based position measurements of the Gaia satellite taken by the GBOT project for the purpose of Gaia orbit reconstruction.	Auxiliary	NEW		General
06.01	Extra-galactic tables	galaxy_candidates	Parameters derived from various modules dedicated to the classification and characterisation of sources considered as galaxy candidates.	Galaxies		DL3	Parameters
06.02	Extra-galactic tables	galaxy_catalogue_name	List of input catalogues used to select any given source for which morphological analysis parameters are provided in the Galaxy candidates table.	Galaxies		DL3	Classification
06.03	Extra-galactic tables	grav_lens_catalogue_name	List of input catalogues used to select any given source analysed by the Gravitational Lens module.	Gravitational lensing		DL3	Classification
06.04	Extra-galactic tables	grav_lens_combination	Information relevant at the level of a gravitational lens multiplet system analysed around lensed sources.	Gravitational lensing		DL3	Parameters
06.05	Extra-galactic tables	grav_lens_component	Potential gravitational lens components (including the quasars).	Gravitational lensing		DL3	Classification
06.06	Extra-galactic tables	grav_lens_observation	Observations used for gravitational lens search.	Gravitational lensing		DL2	Classification
06.07	Extra-galactic tables	grav_lens_outlier	Individual observations that have been discarded as outliers from the analysis of the gravitational lenses.	Gravitational lensing		DL3	Classification
06.08	Extra-galactic tables	grav_lens_xp_mean_spectrum	Mean BP/RP spectra of gravitational lens components	Gravitational lensing	NEW	DL3	Spectra
06.09	Extra-galactic tables	qso_candidates	Parameters derived from various modules dedicated to the classification and characterisation of sources considered as QSO candidates.	Quasar		DL3	Parameters
06.10	Extra-galactic tables	qso_catalogue_name	List of input catalogues used to select those sources for which morphological analysis was performed in the QSO candidates table.	Quasar		DL3	Classification
07.01	Non-single stars tables	nss_acceleration_astro	Non-single-star astrometric solution parameters for sources having a non-linear proper motion which is compatible with an acceleration solution.	Non-single star		DL3	Astrometry
07.02	Non-single stars tables	nss_multiplicity	Source may be involved in more than one resolved pair. This table list all pairs involving a given source.	Non-single star	NEW	DL3	Astrometry
07.03	Non-single stars tables	nss_non_linear_spectro	Non-single stars - accelerated spectroscopic solutions	Non-single star		DL3	Spectroscopy
07.04	Non-single stars tables	nss_two_body_orbit	Non-single-star orbital solution parameters for sources compatible with an orbital two-body solution. This covers astrometric binaries, spectroscopic binaries, eclipsing binaries and certain combinations thereof.	Non-single star		DL3	Astrometry
07.05	Non-single stars tables	nss_vim_fl	Non-single-star solution parameters for sources compatible with a Variability-Induced Mover (VIM) solution.	Non-single star		DL3	Astrometry
07.0N	Non-single stars tables	optical_pair	Optical Pairs / chance alignment of spatially close sources	Main	NEW	DL3	Astrometry
07.0N	Non-single stars tables	nss_masses	Non-single stars - masses of companions	Non-single star		DL3	Parameters
08.01	Epoch-level astrometric, photometric and image products	epoch_astrometry	Time series of astrometric data, i.e. individual astrometric measurements for all sources treated in the main astrometric processing.	Epoch	NEW	DL2	Astrometry
08.02	Epoch-level astrometric, photometric and image products	epoch_photometry	Time series of photometric data aggregated per FOV-transit, i.e. the light curve at FoV level for a given source in the G, BP and RP bands.	Epoch	NEW	DL2	Photometry
08.03	Epoch-level astrometric, photometric and image products	epoch_photometry_ccd	Time series of photometric data at CCD-transit level, i.e. the light curve at FoV level for a given source in the G band.	Epoch	NEW	DL2	Photometry
08.04	Epoch-level astrometric, photometric and image products	epoch_image	Image data from the Gaia CCDs for all sources treated in the main astrometric processing. These are pre-processed and sky-projected individual CCD sample values.	Epoch	NEW	DL1	Image
08.05	Epoch-level astrometric, photometric and image products	onboard_detection_af_xp	Object logs from the astrometric field and the BP and RP fields	Epoch	NEW	DL1	Photometry
08.06	Epoch-level astrometric, photometric and image products	onboard_detection_rvs	Object logs from radial velocity spectrometer (RVS) field	Epoch	NEW	DL1	Spectroscopy
08.07	Epoch-level astrometric, photometric and image products	bright_source_epoch_astrometry	Time series of astrometric data, i.e. the individual astrometric measurements for the same 48 among the 51 brightest stars for which the astrometric parameters are presented in the bright_source_astrometry table.	Epoch	NEW	DL2	Astrometry
09.01	Reference frame	frame_rotator_source	Sources used for the reference frame alignment and rotation.	Main		DL3	Reference Frame
09.0N	Reference frame	agn_cross_id	Sources that define the Gaia Celestial Reference Frame (CRF).	Main		DL3	Reference Frame
10.01	Science alert tables	science_alerts	Gaia Photometric Science Alerts triggered in the time span covered by DR4, i.e. 25-07-2014 to 20-01-2020.	Main		DL3	Classification
10.02	Science alert tables	alerts_mixedin_sourceids	List of identifiers for mixed-in sources for Gaia Photometric Science Alerts, where transits from the primary source are mixed with other sources in the catalogue	Main		DL3	Classification
11.01	Simulation tables	gaia_source_simulation	Gaia Simulations (GOG). Table of sources realised according to the Gaia Object Generator (GOG) simulation.	Simulations			Simulations
11.02	Simulation tables	gum_mw	Gaia Simulations (GUM Milky Way). Table of simulated galactic stars according to the Gaia Universal Model Simulation (GUMS).	Simulations			Simulations
11.03	Simulation tables	gum_galaxy	Gaia Simulations (GUM Galaxies).	Simulations	NEW		Simulations
11.04	Simulation tables	gum_qso	Gaia Simulations (GUM QSO).	Simulations	NEW		Simulations
11.05	Simulation tables	gum_sn	Gaia Simulations (GUM Supernovae).	Simulations	NEW		Simulations
12.01	Solar System object tables	sso_alerts	Solar system objects - Observations that have have been associated with published asteroid alerts.	Solar System	NEW	DL3	Classification
12.02	Solar System object tables	sso_source	Solar system objects - Data related to Solar System objects observed by Gaia.	Solar System		DL3	Parameters
12.03	Solar System object tables	sso_observation_asteroid	Solar system objects - Each table line contains observation data obtained during the transit of the source on a single CCD, during a single transit. The source is considered to be of type asteroid.	Solar System	NEW	DL2	Astrometry
12.04	Solar System object tables	sso_observation_comet	Solar system objects - Each table line contains observation data obtained during the transit of the source on a single CCD, during a single transit. The source is considered to be of type comet.	Solar System	NEW	DL2	Astrometry
12.05	Solar System object tables	sso_observation_satellite	Solar system objects - Each table line contains observation data obtained during the transit of the source on a single CCD, during a single transit. The source is considered to be of type planetary satellite.	Solar System	NEW	DL2	Astrometry
12.06	Solar System object tables	sso_observation_unknown	Solar system objects - Each table line contains observation data obtained during the transit of the source on a single CCD, during a single transit. The source is considered to be of unknown type.	Solar System	NEW	DL3	Classification
12.07	Solar System object tables	sso_reflectance_spectrum	Solar system objects - Mean BP/RP reflectance spectra of asteroids computed as the ratio between the asteroid flux and an averaged solar analogue flux.	Solar System		DL3	Spectra
13.01	Spectroscopic tables	rvs_mean_spectrum	RVS mean sampled spectra. The spectra are in the rest frame and are normalised.	Main		DL2	Spectra
13.02	Spectroscopic tables	rvs_epoch_data_single	FOV-transit-level information for radial velocity, spectral line broadening, and Grvs magnitudes for single-lined transits.	Epoch	NEW	DL2	Spectroscopy
13.03	Spectroscopic tables	rvs_epoch_data_double	FOV-transit-level information for the radial velocity, spectral line broadening, and Grvs magnitudes for double-lined transits.	Epoch	NEW	DL2	Spectroscopy
13.04	Spectroscopic tables	rvs_epoch_spectrum	RVS spectra combined at the FOV-transit level. The spectra are in the solar barycentric frame and normalized	Epoch	NEW	DL3	Spectra
13.05	Spectroscopic tables	rvs_transit_description	CCD level information for RVS transits	Epoch	NEW	DL2	Spectra
13.06	Spectroscopic tables	rvs_two_body_orbit	Non-single stars - spectroscopic binary solutions obtained using both the astrometric orbital solutions and the cross-correlation functions between RVS epoch spectra and synthetic spectral templates.	Non-single star	NEW	DL3	Spectroscopy
13.07	Spectroscopic tables	synthetic_photometry_gspc	Synthetic photometry generated from the Gaia BP/RP mean spectra.	Main		DL4	Photometry
13.08	Spectroscopic tables	xp_continuous_mean_spectrum	Mean BP and RP spectra based on the continuous representation in basis functions.	Main		DL3	Spectra
13.09	Spectroscopic tables	xp_epoch_spectrum	Epoch BP and RP spectra collected at transit level for non-SSO sources.	Epoch	NEW	DL2	Spectra
13.10	Spectroscopic tables	xp_epoch_crowding	Information on both treated and untreated crowding for both BP and RP CCDs for a FoV transit	Epoch	NEW	DL2	Photometry
13.11	Spectroscopic tables	xp_summary	Auxiliary information about the mean BP/RP spectrum of a given source	Main	NEW	DL3	Photometry
14.01	Variability tables	vari_summary	Information on where a source can be found in the different Variability tables and statistical parameters of timeseries	Main		DL3	Variability
14.02	Variability tables	vari_classifier_result	Variability classification results of all classifiers.	Main		DL4	Classification
14.03	Variability tables	vari_classifier_class_definition	Detailed descriptions of all variability classifiers.	Main			Variability
14.05	Variability tables	vari_agn	Variable sources – Active galactic nuclei	Main		DL4	Variability
14.06	Variability tables	vari_cepheid	Variable sources – Cepheids	Main		DL4	Variability
14.07	Variability tables	vari_compact_companion	Variable sources – Compact companion candidates	Main		DL4	Variability
14.08	Variability tables	vari_eclipsing_binary	Variable sources – Eclipsing binaries	Main		DL4	Variability
14.0N	Variability tables	vari_unsupervised	Unsupervised machine-learning classification for variable sources	Main	NEW	DL4	Classification
14.10	Variability tables	vari_rad_vel_statistics	Statistical parameters of radial velocity time series.	Main	NEW	DL3	Variability
14.11	Variability tables	vari_flaring_star	Variable sources - Flaring star	Main	NEW	DL4	Variability
14.12	Variability tables	vari_long_period_variable	Variable sources – Long-period variables	Main		DL4	Variability
14.13	Variability tables	vari_microlensing	Variable sources – Microlensing events	Main		DL4	Variability
14.14	Variability tables	vari_pms_oscillator	Variable sources - Pre-main-sequence oscillators	Main	NEW	DL4	Variability
14.15	Variability tables	vari_planetary_transit	Variable sources – Planetary transits	Main		DL4	Variability
14.16	Variability tables	vari_rotation_modulation	Variable sources – Solar-like rotational modulation variables	Main		DL4	Variability
14.17	Variability tables	vari_rrlyrae	Variable sources – RR Lyrae stars	Main		DL4	Variability
14.18	Variability tables	vari_short_timescale	Variable sources – Short-timescale variables	Main		DL4	Variability
14.19	Variability tables	vari_yso	Variable sources - Young stellar objects variability	Main	NEW	DL4	Variability
TBD	Cross-matches	all_source_match	Global cross-match table compiling all source_id associations between those in all_source_astrometry, gaia_source_environment, and crowded_field_source.	Main	NEW	DL3	CrossMatch

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Background of the data

Gaia DR4 data is based on data collected between 25 July 2014 (10:30 UTC) and 20 January 2020 (22:00 UTC) spanning a period of 66 months of data collection. As a comparison, Gaia DR3 was based on 34 months of data, Gaia DR2 was based on 22 months of data and Gaia DR1 was based on observations collected in the first 14 months of Gaia's routine operational phase.

The reference epoch for Gaia DR4 is J2017.5. Remember that the reference epoch is different for each Gaia data release, and that the reference epoch for Gaia DR3 was J2016.0, for Gaia DR2 was J2015.5 and for Gaia DR1 was J2015.0.

Positions and proper motions are referred to the ICRS, to which the optical reference frame defined by Gaia DR4 (Gaia-CRF4) is aligned. The time coordinate for Gaia DR4 results is the barycentric coordinate time (TCB).

Gaia Source Identifiers

Sources in the Gaia Catalogue are all identified through the Gaia Source Identifier, i.e., the source_id field in the various tables in the Gaia Archive. The construction of the source identifiers is explained in the archive documentation (for Gaia DR1, see the data model section). In particular, the source_id number contains rough information about the source position on the sky.

As explained in previous announcements, there are various reasons why the identifier of a specific source may change or disappear when going from the Gaia DR1 to the Gaia DR2 source list and on to the Gaia DR3 and Gaia DR4 source list. Users of Gaia data should thus be aware that the source list for Gaia DR4 should be treated as independent from Gaia DR3, Gaia DR2 and from Gaia DR1. With each new Gaia data release, the source list is becoming progressively more stable.

The Gaia source names ('designations') for Gaia DR4 are all constructed as follows:

Gaia DR4 yyy....yy

Accessing the data

The Gaia Archive will be the main point of access to the Gaia DR4 data, but the data (or a subset thereof) will also be served from our partner data centres (CDS, ASDC, ARI, AIP and Flatiron). Data can be extracted from the Gaia Archive by performing ADQL queries and downloading the corresponding results tables.

The total size will be about 500TB, of which a large fraction is the level 2 data.

Passbands

Gaia DR4 passbands will be published to document how the Gaia DR4 magnitudes are computed, and to allow to reproduce the analysis of the data.

Documentation

Data release documentation is provided along with each data release in the form of a downloadable PDF and a webpage. Please visit the Gaia Archive to access Gaia documentation, and make sure to go through all relevant information given from the documentation overview page.

Known issues with Gaia Data Release 4

A list of issues with the data or info given along with the data will be provided. In case you find an issue with the data yourself, please contact the Gaia Helpdesk to let us know.

Data model

The Gaia DR4 data model describes all tables together with the names and contents of the columns inside each table. This information will become available from the Gaia Archive along with the data release documentation.

In advance of Gaia DR4, we will publish a draft version of the data model here.

Data Release papers

Along with the Gaia DR4 data release documentation, several data processing papers will be published describing the specifics of the data processing and validation performed by the different coordination units in the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC). There will also be some papers on the performance verification of Gaia, providing basic demonstrations of the scientific potential of the Gaia DR4 catalogue. Some pre-release processing papers are already available.