Photo-astrometric distances, extinctions, and astrophysical parameters for Gaia EDR3 stars brighter than G = 18.5

Vol. 657
10. Planets and planetary systems

Photo-astrometric distances, extinctions, and astrophysical parameters for Gaia EDR3 stars brighter than G = 18.5

After eight years of operations, ESA's astrometric space mission Gaia continues to deliver fundamental results. The data from Gaia's Early Third Data Release, together with data from space- and ground-based photometric surveys, have now allowed an international team from the University of Barcelona (Spain) and the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (Germany) to further improve the measurements provided by the Gaia team. The team measured precise and accurate astrophysical parameters (stellar distances, extinctions, temperatures, and absolute brightnesses) for more than 350 million stars brighter than G=18.5 mag. These data can now be used to map our Milky Way in exquisite detail, revealing detailed substructures even beyond our Galaxy. The catalog is publicly available, and many groups around the world will want to take advantage of this database.