Gaia : Ten Years of Surveying the Milky Way and Beyond

Abstract

On January 15 2025, the Gaia mission completed the collection of the astrometric, photometric, and spectrocopic data for about 2.5 billion celestial sources, from the solar system to the Milky Way to the distant universe. Work is ongoing to produce Gaia DR 4 based on the first 5.5 years of data, with the release expected in 2026. The full 10.5 year survey will be turned into Gaia DR 5 which will open up scientific possibilities beyond Gaia DR 4. In this contribution I give a brief overview of the Gaia mission, summarize results from the GaiaUnlimited project, provide a glimpse of what is to come in Gaia DR 4, and summarize the new science opportunities that Gaia DR 5 will bring. I close with a look ahead at the successor to Gaia , the GaiaNIR mission, which will survey the Milky Way in the infrared, thus probing the Galactic ecosystem in the regions hidden to the Gaia mission.