Ground-based observations of the Gaia spacecraft in 2025

Observations from Spain

Observations performed from 5 February 2025 20:42 to 6 February 05:55 UTC, 180 exposures of 3 minutes from geographic latitude 42.22 degrees North (Spain) by Alexander Wrede from Germany. Telescope used is the Takahashi TOA130 with 10Micron GM3000 and Camera: Player One Zeus IMX455 Mono Pro using the filter Astronomik Luminanzfilter L2.

Observations of the Gaia spacecraft by Alexander Wrede. Credits: Alexander Wrede - CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

Observations from Poland

These observations of the Gaia spacecraft were taken on 26th January 2025, from 21:39 to 22:16 UT, at the astronomical observatory located at the primary school in Sulkowice-Bolecina, in southern Poland by Sebastian Kurowski. Coordinates of the observatory: latitude: 49°49'11.377" N / longitude: 19°22'13.875" E. The observations were performed with a GSO 16-inch Ritchey-Chretien on EQ-8 mount telescope, combined with a ZWO ASI2600MM Pro camera. The exposure time is 180 seconds for each frame, using the R filter.

Observations of the Gaia spacecraft by Sebastian Kurowski. Credits: Sebastian Kurowski – School Astronomical Observatory Bolecina (SOA Bolecina), Poland - CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

Observations from the United Kingdom

This video shows the Gaia spacecraft as observed from West Cornforth, County Durham in the United Kingdom by Juergen Schmoll, between 04 February 22:35 UTC to 05 February 01:58 UTC. The video was created from 100 frames of 120 second exposure time each, using a 355/2200mm Schmidt Cassegrain telescope (14" Meade SCT with Starizona f/6.3 reducer). The camera used is a IMX571c chip based Altair Hypercam 26c. The exposures were guided but the tracking was impacted by strong wind. The sky background variation is caused by the moon as it was setting during the 200 minute-observation.

Observations of the Gaia spacecraft by Juergen Schmoll. Credits: Juergen Schmoll.

Observations from United Kingdom

Observation performed from Frimley, Surrey, UK by Tim Ellison for 9 hours on the night of 04 to 05 February 2025, between 20:30 to 05:30 UTC. 250 frames were taken at intervals of a little over two minutes. Equipment used was the Sky-Watcher 200mm aperture f5 Newtonian Telescope with Baader MPCC Coma Corrector, with Altair 26C Cooled Camera and Sky-Watcher AZ-EQ6 Mount, autoguided.

​​​​​​​

Observations of the Gaia spacecraft by Tim Ellison. Credits: Tim Ellison.

 Observations from the United Kingdom

Observation performed near Salisbury, UK by Grant Privett on the night of 4th of February 2025 between 21:43 and 22:18 UTC. Telescope used is a 0.3m f/4 Newtonian reflector with a Starlight Xpress 694 CCD. The observations were stacked and consist of 13x 60 second exposures. At that moment, Gaia's brightness was approximately 15.2.

Observations of the Gaia spacecraft by Grant Privett. Credits: Grant Privett.

Observations from Chile

Observations performed on 28 January between 01:02 to 04:36 from Chile (latitude -30.5 / longitude -70.8 / altitude 1710m) by Michal Zejmo from the University of Zielona Gora Observatory, Poland. Observations were made with a PlaneWave CDK500 telescope system and a QHY268Pro camera, using the g-sloan filter with and exposure time of 60 seconds.

​​​​​​​

Observations of the Gaia spacecraft by Michal Zejmo. Credits: Michal Zejmo - University of Zielona Gora Observatory, Poland - CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

Observations from USA

Observations performed on 1 February 2025 between 04:03 to 04:13 from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States of America by Bill Keel.

​​​​​​​

Observations of the Gaia spacecraft by Bill Keel. Credits: Bill Keel - CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

Observations from Germany

Observations performed on 25 January 2025 between 19:00 and 21:00 UTC from observation location 86405 in Germany by Andy Bender.

Observations of the Gaia spacecraft by Andy Bender, Sternwarte Meckesheim, Germany. G-channel at 15.6 magnitude. Also performed in R-channel at 15.4 magnitude and in B-channel at 16.1 magnitude. Credits: Andy Bender - CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

Observations of the Gaia spacecraft by Andy Bender, Sternwarte Meckesheim, Germany. Stacked images showing the movement of Gaia over this period of time​​​​​​​. Credits: Andy Bender - CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.