The Biggest Cosmic Map - Chris Lintott

00:00 // Introduction
01:11 // Gaia’s Mission
02:37 // The History of Mapping the Sky
02:54 // Early Astronomical Maps
07:35 // The Shift to Scientific Mapping
10:54 // Measuring Distances: Parallax
19:19 // The First Success in Measuring Parallax
20:36 // Gaia’s Work in Mapping the Galaxy
23:12 // Revealing the Milky Way’s Structure
24:05 // The Warped and Wobbling Galaxy
26:17 // The Milky Way’s Past Collisions
30:42 // How Collisions Shaped Our Solar System
35:13 // The Milky Way’s Mergers
36:37 // Gaia’s Local Discoveries
38:09 // Mapping Planets and Asteroids
44:36 // The Future of Space Mapping

Watch the Q&A session here:    • Q&A: The Biggest Cosmic Map - Chris L...  

Mapping the stars is, perhaps, the oldest of astronomical pursuits, but it has been perfected by the European Space Agency's Gaia mission, which is providing an exquisitely precise map showing the positions and movements of the nearest two billion stars. Starting with a history of mapping the cosmos, this lecture describes the new and dynamic history of our Milky Way galaxy that results, and will move to explaining the dynamic and growing nature of our galaxy.

This lecture was recorded by Chris Lintott on 26th February 2025 at Conway Hall, London

Chris is Gresham Professor of Astronomy.

He is also a Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford, and a Research Fellow at New College.

The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/b...

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