Premiere of the documentary “Gaia: de casa nostra a l’Univers”

The documentary “Gaia: de casa nostra a l’Univers“, produced by Big Van Ciència with the support of a grant from the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation (FCRI), highlights Catalonia’s key role in one of the most ambitious scientific missions in recent history: the Gaia mission of the European Space Agency (ESA).

Thanks to Gaia, humanity has been able to map nearly two billion stars in the Milky Way with unprecedented precision. A fundamental part of this success has been developed in Catalonia, with teams from the University of Barcelona (UB), the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), and the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB) leading scientific contributions of top international level.

The premiere event will feature Teresa Sanchis, Director General for Research of the Government of Catalonia; Helena González, Director of Big Van Ciència; Xavier Luri, Full Professor in the Department of Quantum Physics and Astrophysics at the University of Barcelona, Director of the IEEC, and Principal Investigator of Gaia in Spain; Mercè Pallàs, Deputy for Coordination with UB Research Institutes; Maria Terrades, Director of the Barcelona Science Park; and Miquel Gómez, Director of the FCRI.

The event will combine institutional speeches, a screening of the documentary (35 minutes), and a science outreach show featuring humor and improvisation by Big Van Ciència, which will allow the audience to interact live with researchers from the Gaia mission.

The voice of Catalan science

“Gaia: de casa nostra a l’Univers” is not just a scientific documentary: it is a story about how research carried out in Catalonia is helping to transform global knowledge of our galaxy.

With more than 16,000 scientific publications derived from its data, Gaia has become a key tool for understanding the structure, origin, and evolution of the Milky Way. This documentary brings this scientific revolution closer to the general public, using an approachable and human tone, with touches of humor.

In the Gaia mission—the most ambitious project of the ESA to study the history and structure of the Milky Way—a team of astronomers and engineers from the Department of Quantum Physics and Astrophysics of the University of Barcelona, the ICCUB, and the IEEC has taken part since the very beginning, under the initial leadership of Professor Jordi Torra. Launched in 2013, the Gaia satellite has transformed our understanding of the cosmos through detailed stellar cartography of the positions, distances, motions, and properties of nearly two billion stars and other celestial objects.

Professor Xavier Luri highlights that “the UB Gaia team has worked on the mission since its beginnings, around 1997.” “Since then, it has taken part in all phases, from defining the scientific case and industrial design to data processing and scientific exploitation,” he continues. “Now, although Gaia has finished its observations, several years of work remain to fully process all the data collected during this period and to publish two additional data releases (DR4 and DR5),” the researcher concludes.