Gaia Data Release 3

The extragalactic content^⋆

¹ Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Knigstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
² Telespazio UK S.L. for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino Bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanizacion Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
³ Institut d’Astrophysique et de Géophysique, Université de Liège, 19c, Allée du 6 Août, 4000 Liège, Belgium
⁴ Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Bordeaux, Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, B18N, Allée Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 33615 Pessac, France
⁵ CIGUS CITIC – Department of Computer Science and Information Technologies, University of A Coruña, Campus de Elviña s/n, A Coruña, 15071 Spain
⁶ Department of Astrophysics, Astronomy and Mechanics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis, Zografos, 15783 Athens, Greece
⁷ National Observatory of Athens, I. Metaxa and Vas. Pavlou, Palaia Penteli, 15236 Athens, Greece
⁸ Lohrmann Observatory, Technische Universität Dresden, Mommsenstraße 13, 01062 Dresden, Germany
⁹ Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva, Chemin d’Ecogia 16, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
¹⁰ Dpto. de Matemática Aplicada y Ciencias de la Computación, Univ. de Cantabria, ETS Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos, Avda. de los Castros s/n, 39005 Santander, Spain
¹¹ INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, Via Osservatorio 20, 10025 Pino Torinese, TO, Italy
¹² Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA UK
¹³ Université Côte d’Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Laboratoire Lagrange, Bd de l’Observatoire, CS 34229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, France
¹⁴ RHEA for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanizacion Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
¹⁵ CENTRA, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Edif. C8, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal
¹⁶ Department of Informatics, Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, University of California, Irvine, 5226 Donald Bren Hall, 92697-3440 CA, Irvine, USA
¹⁷ Instituto de Astronomia, Geofìsica e Ciências Atmosféricas, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão, 1226, Cidade Universitaria, 05508-900 São Paulo, SP, Brazil
¹⁸ Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Niels Bohrweg 2, 2333 CA Leiden, The Netherlands
¹⁹ INAF – Osservatorio astronomico di Padova, Vicolo Osservatorio 5, 35122 Padova, Italy
²⁰ European Space Agency (ESA), European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands
²¹ GEPI, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, 5 Place Jules Janssen, 92190 Meudon, France
²² Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IPAG, 38000 Grenoble, France
²³ Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg, Mönchhofstr. 12-14, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
²⁴ Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva, Chemin Pegasi 51, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
²⁵ European Space Agency (ESA), European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), Camino Bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanizacion Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
²⁶ Aurora Technology for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino Bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanizacion Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
²⁷ Institut de Ciències del Cosmos (ICCUB), Universitat de Barcelona (IEEC-UB), Martí i Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
²⁸ Lund Observatory, Department of Astronomy and Theoretical Physics, Lund University, Box 43 22100 Lund, Sweden
²⁹ CNES Centre Spatial de Toulouse, 18 Avenue Édouard Belin, 1401 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
³⁰ Institut d’Astronomie et d’Astrophysique, Université Libre de Bruxelles CP 226, Boulevard du Triomphe, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
³¹ F.R.S.-FNRS, Rue d’Egmont 5, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
³² INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo Enrico Fermi 5, 50125 Firenze, Italy
³³ European Space Agency, Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands
³⁴ University of Turin, Department of Physics, Via Pietro Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, Italy
³⁵ INAF – Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna, Via Piero Gobetti 93/3, 40129 Bologna, Italy
³⁶ DAPCOM for Institut de Ciències del Cosmos (ICCUB), Universitat de Barcelona (IEEC-UB), Martí i Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
³⁷ Royal Observatory of Belgium, Ringlaan 3, 1180 Brussels, Belgium
³⁸ Observational Astrophysics, Division of Astronomy and Space Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516 751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
³⁹ ALTEC S.p.a, Corso Marche, 79, 10146 Torino, Italy
⁴⁰ Sednai Sàrl, Geneva, Switzerland
⁴¹ Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St Mary, Dorking, Surrey, RH5 6NT UK
⁴² Gaia DPAC Project Office, ESAC, Camino Bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanizacion Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
⁴³ SYRTE, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, LNE, 61 Avenue de l’Observatoire, 75014 Paris, France
⁴⁴ IMCCE, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Univ. Lille, 77 Av. Denfert-Rochereau, 75014 Paris, France
⁴⁵ Serco Gestión de Negocios for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino Bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanizacion Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
⁴⁶ CRAAG – Centre de Recherche en Astronomie, Astrophysique et Géophysique, Route de l’Observatoire Bp 63 Bouzareah, 16340 Algiers, Algeria
⁴⁷ Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ UK
⁴⁸ ATG Europe for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino Bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanizacion Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
⁴⁹ Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg, UMR 7550, 11 Rue de l’Université, 67000 Strasbourg, France
⁵⁰ Kavli Institute for Cosmology Cambridge, Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA UK
⁵¹ Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP), An der Sternwarte 16, 14482 Potsdam, Germany
⁵² INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania, Via S. Sofia 78, 95123 Catania, Italy
⁵³ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia “Ettore Majorana”, Università di Catania, Via S. Sofia 64, 95123 Catania, Italy
⁵⁴ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Via Frascati 33, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Roma, Italy
⁵⁵ Space Science Data Center – ASI, Via del Politecnico SNC, 00133 Roma, Italy
⁵⁶ Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, PO Box 64 00014 Helsinki, Finland
⁵⁷ Finnish Geospatial Research Institute FGI, Geodeetinrinne 2, 02430 Masala, Finland
⁵⁸ Institut UTINAM CNRS UMR6213, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, OSU THETA Franche-Comté Bourgogne, Observatoire de Besançon, BP1615, 25010 Besançon Cedex, France
⁵⁹ HE Space Operations BV for European Space Agency (ESA), Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands
⁶⁰ Dpto. de Inteligencia Artificial, UNED, c/ Juan del Rosal 16, 28040 Madrid, Spain
⁶¹ Konkoly Observatory, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Eötvös Loránd Research Network (ELKH), MTA Centre of Excellence, Konkoly Thege Miklós út 15-17, 1121 Budapest, Hungary
⁶² ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Institute of Physics, 1117, Pázmány Péter sétány 1A, Budapest, Hungary
⁶³ Instituut voor Sterrenkunde, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200D, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
⁶⁴ Department of Astrophysics/IMAPP, Radboud University, PO Box 9010 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands
⁶⁵ University of Vienna, Department of Astrophysics, Trkenschanzstraße 17, 1180 Vienna, Austria
⁶⁶ Institute of Physics, Laboratory of Astrophysics, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Observatoire de Sauverny, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
⁶⁷ Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, Landleven 12, 9747 AD Groningen, The Netherlands
⁶⁸ School of Physics and Astronomy/Space Park Leicester, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH UK
⁶⁹ Thales Services for CNES Centre Spatial de Toulouse, 18 Avenue Édouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
⁷⁰ Depto. Estadística e Investigación Operativa, Universidad de Cádiz, Avda. República Saharaui s/n, 11510 Puerto Real, Cádiz, Spain
⁷¹ Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000, Hilltop Circle Baltimore, MD, USA
⁷² GSFC – Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 698, 8800 Greenbelt Rd, 20771 MD, Greenbelt, USA
⁷³ EURIX S.r.l., Corso Vittorio Emanuele II 61, 10128, Torino, Italy
⁷⁴ Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 6997801 Israel
⁷⁵ Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St., MS 15, Cambridge, MA, 02138 USA
⁷⁶ HE Space Operations BV for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanizacion Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
⁷⁷ Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Universidade do Porto, CAUP, Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto, Portugal
⁷⁸ LFCA/DAS, Universidad de Chile, CNRS, Casilla 36-D, Santiago, Chile
⁷⁹ SISSA – Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, Via Bonomea 265, 34136 Trieste, Italy
⁸⁰ Telespazio for CNES Centre Spatial de Toulouse, 18 Avenue Édouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
⁸¹ University of Turin, Department of Computer Sciences, Corso Svizzera 185, 10149 Torino, Italy
⁸² Centro de Astronomía – CITEVA, Universidad de Antofagasta, Avenida Angamos 601, Antofagasta, 1270300 Chile
⁸³ DLR Gesellschaft für Raumfahrtanwendungen (GfR) mbH, Münchener Straße 20, 82234 Weßling, Germany
⁸⁴ Centre for Astrophysics Research, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, AL10 9AB Hatfield, UK
⁸⁵ University of Turin, Mathematical Department “G. Peano”, Via Carlo Alberto 10, 10123 Torino, Italy
⁸⁶ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico d’Abruzzo, Via Mentore Maggini, 64100 Teramo, Italy
⁸⁷ APAVE SUDEUROPE SAS for CNES Centre Spatial de Toulouse, 18 Avenue Édouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
⁸⁸ Mésocentre de calcul de Franche-Comté, Université de Franche-Comté, 16 Route de Gray, 25030 Besançon Cedex, France
⁸⁹ ATOS for CNES Centre Spatial de Toulouse, 18 Avenue Édouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
⁹⁰ School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 6997801 Israel
⁹¹ Astrophysics Research Centre, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, BT7 1NN UK
⁹² Centre de Données Astronomiques de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
⁹³ Institute for Computational Cosmology, Department of Physics, Durham University, Durham, DH1 3LE UK
⁹⁴ European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, 85748 Garching, Germany
⁹⁵ Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße 1, 85748 Garching, Germany
⁹⁶ Data Science and Big Data Lab, Pablo de Olavide University, 41013 Seville, Spain
⁹⁷ Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), Plaça Eusebi Güell 1-3, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
⁹⁸ ETSE Telecomunicación, Universidade de Vigo, Campus Lagoas-Marcosende, 36310 Vigo, Galicia, Spain
⁹⁹ Asteroid Engineering Laboratory, Space Systems, Luleå University of Technology, Box 848 981 28 Kiruna, Sweden
¹⁰⁰ Vera C. Rubin Observatory, 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ, 85719 USA
¹⁰¹ TRUMPF Photonic Components GmbH, Lise-Meitner-Straße 13, 89081 Ulm, Germany
¹⁰² IAC – Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Via Láctea s/n, 38200 La Laguna S.C., Tenerife, Spain
¹⁰³ Department of Astrophysics, University of La Laguna, Via Láctea s/n, 38200 La Laguna S.C., Tenerife, Spain
¹⁰⁴ Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Kluyverweg 1, 2629 HS Delft, The Netherlands
¹⁰⁵ Radagast Solutions, Simon Vestdijkpad 24, 2321 WD Leiden, The Netherlands
¹⁰⁶ Laboratoire Univers et Particules de Montpellier, CNRS Université Montpellier, Place Eugène Bataillon, CC72, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 05, France
¹⁰⁷ Université de Caen Normandie, Côte de Nacre Boulevard Maréchal Juin, 14032 Caen, France
¹⁰⁸ LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université de Paris, 5 Place Jules Janssen, 92190 Meudon, France
¹⁰⁹ SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Niels Bohrweg 4, 2333 CA Leiden, The Netherlands
¹¹⁰ Astronomical Observatory, University of Warsaw, Al. Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warszawa, Poland
¹¹¹ Scalian for CNES Centre Spatial de Toulouse, 18 Avenue Édouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
¹¹² Université Rennes, CNRS, IPR (Institut de Physique de Rennes) – UMR 6251, 35000 Rennes, France
¹¹³ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Via Moiariello 16, 80131 Napoli, Italy
¹¹⁴ Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 80 Nandan Road, Shanghai, 200030 PR China
¹¹⁵ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 19(A) Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing, 100049 PR China
¹¹⁶ Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
¹¹⁷ DXC Technology, Retortvej 8, 2500 Valby, Denmark
¹¹⁸ Las Cumbres Observatory, 6740, Cortona Drive Suite 102, Goleta, CA, 93117 USA
¹¹⁹ CIGUS CITIC, Department of Nautical Sciences and Marine Engineering, University of A Coruña, Paseo de Ronda 51, 15071 A Coruña, Spain
¹²⁰ Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, 146 Brownlow Hill, Liverpool, L3 5RF UK
¹²¹ IPAC, Mail Code 100-22, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA, 91125 USA
¹²² IRAP, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, CNES, 9 Av. Colonel Roche, BP 44346, 31028 Toulouse Cedex 4, France
¹²³ MTA CSFK Lendület Near-Field Cosmology Research Group, Konkoly Observatory, MTA Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Konkoly Thege Miklós út 15-17, 1121 Budapest, Hungary
¹²⁴ Departmento de Física de la Tierra y Astrofísica, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
¹²⁵ Ruđer Bošković Institute, Bijenička Cesta 54, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
¹²⁶ Villanova University, Department of Astrophysics and Planetary Science, 800 E Lancaster Avenue, Villanova, PA, 19085 USA
¹²⁷ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, via E. Bianchi, 46, 23807 Merate, LC, Italy
¹²⁸ STFC, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell, Didcot, OX11 0QX UK
¹²⁹ Charles University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Astronomical Institute of Charles University, V Holesovickach 2, 18000 Prague, Czech Republic
¹³⁰ Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 7610001 Israel
¹³¹ Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ, 08544 USA
¹³² Departamento de Astrofísica, Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA), ESA-ESAC, Camino Bajo del Castillo s/n., 28692 Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain
¹³³ naXys, University of Namur, Rempart de la Vierge, 5000 Namur, Belgium
¹³⁴ CGI Deutschland B.V. & Co. KG, Mornewegstr. 30, 64293 Darmstadt, Germany
¹³⁵ Institute of Global Health, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
¹³⁶ Astronomical Observatory Institute, Faculty of Physics, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
¹³⁷ H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TL UK
¹³⁸ Department of Physics and Astronomy G. Galilei, University of Padova, Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 3, 35122 Padova, Italy
¹³⁹ CERN, Esplanade des Particules 1, PO Box 1211, Geneva, Switzerland
¹⁴⁰ Applied Physics Department, Universidade de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain
¹⁴¹ Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, 1331 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC, 20004 USA
¹⁴² European Southern Observatory, Alonso de Córdova 3107, Casilla 19, Santiago, Chile
¹⁴³ Sorbonne Université, CNRS, UMR7095, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, 98bis Bd. Arago, 75014 Paris, France
¹⁴⁴ Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana, Jadranska ulica 19, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Received: 31 January 2022
Accepted: 27 April 2022

Abstract

The Gaia Galactic survey mission is designed and optimized to obtain astrometry, photometry, and spectroscopy of nearly two billion stars in our Galaxy. Yet as an all-sky multi-epoch survey, Gaia also observes several million extragalactic objects down to a magnitude of G ∼ 21 mag. Due to the nature of the Gaia onboard-selection algorithms, these are mostly point-source-like objects. Using data provided by the satellite, we have identified quasar and galaxy candidates via supervised machine learning methods, and estimate their redshifts using the low resolution BP/RP spectra. We further characterise the surface brightness profiles of host galaxies of quasars and of galaxies from pre-defined input lists. Here we give an overview of the processing of extragalactic objects, describe the data products in Gaia DR3, and analyse their properties. Two integrated tables contain the main results for a high completeness, but low purity (50−70%), set of 6.6 million candidate quasars and 4.8 million candidate galaxies. We provide queries that select purer sub-samples of these containing 1.9 million probable quasars and 2.9 million probable galaxies (both ∼95% purity). We also use high quality BP/RP spectra of 43 thousand high probability quasars over the redshift range 0.05−4.36 to construct a composite quasar spectrum spanning restframe wavelengths from 72−1000 nm.