Surveys · 2 of 6

GaiaDR3

Space-based, bands G, BP, RP. Detections from 2014-07-25 to 2017-05-28.

https://gea.esac.esa.int/archive/ · replaced at the survey's next data release

epochs held
1.27 billion
1.22 billion of them detections
stars with a light curve
9,158,464
9,158,464 with ≥ 1 detection
median epochs per star
136
all bands
sky with light curves
100.0%
HEALPix order-6 cells, as mapped
Where its stars are

Footprint

Brightness is stars per cell with a light curve from Gaia (HEALPix order 6, log scale), over the whole archive in gray. Galactic Mollweide, Galactic center in the middle, east left, 30° graticule. It shows where the archive holds light curves, not the survey's full footprint.

native → BJD_TDB

Time system

native column
obs_time
time scale
TCB
reference frame
barycentric
origin
JD − 2455197.5
reference position
source
archive time axis
BJD_TDB (bjd_tdb)

Already barycentric; only the time scale (TCB → TDB) and origin are converted. The native obs_time is not served.

Bands

bandλ_effsaturationcollectionstars with a light curveepochsdetectionsera
Gaia Ggaia:G673 nm3 magcurves_live9,158,464446,142,645433,574,4382014-07-25 → 2017-05-28
Gaia BPgaia:BP532 nm3 magcurves_live9,152,750408,579,123388,699,1992014-07-25 → 2017-05-28
Gaia RPgaia:RP797 nm3 magcurves_live9,152,867415,852,254395,880,2962014-07-25 → 2017-05-28

Joint fit: G + BP + RP share one multiband periodogram.

quality rules

Epoch selection

good epochs
not rejected by Gaia's per-band flag (variability_flag_g_reject, _bp_reject, _rp_reject)
detections
detected when flux_over_error ≥ 1.0
non-detections
reported; the rule above marks them
Alias frequencies

365.25/P = m·5.8 + n (precession, ~63.0 d); spin harmonics at 4, 8, 12 c/d; 0.5 d peak; documented spurious 0.5/18/25/32/49 d

Holl et al. 2023, A&A 674, A25 ↗
linking

Crossmatch to VSX

Measured radius 0.30″, 0.73% chance matches.

Both catalogs are propagated to J2000 before matching. The radius is chosen against local Gaia density.

ID column
source_id
catalog epoch
J2016

Gaia source IDs can change between data releases; ESA publishes a crossmatch table to follow a star from DR3 to DR4.

Caveats

  • Epochs are rejected per band by Gaia's flags (G 3.07%, BP 4.12%, RP 4.95%), never across bands.
  • DR3 epoch photometry exists only for sources Gaia flagged as variable (plus an M31 field), so a missing Gaia light curve does not mean Gaia never observed the star.
  • Median 44 transits per band. Gaia light curves are not searched for eclipses (BLS).
LSDB

Bulk access

Light curves are in the nested lc_gaia column of curves_live.

PythonGaia light curves around a position
# read the release directly over HTTPS
import json, lsdb
from upath import UPath

root = UPath("https://data.varchive.app")
ptr = json.loads((root / "catalogs/latest.json").read_text())
RA, DEC = 0.0, 0.0   # your field center, degrees

# curves_live: Gaia G, BP, RP
live = lsdb.read_hats(root / ptr["collections"]["curves_live"]["path"],
                      columns=["varchive_id", "ra", "dec", "lc_gaia"])
df = live.cone_search(RA, DEC, 600).compute()   # radius in arcsec
lc = df["lc_gaia"].iloc[0]   # band, bjd_tdb, mag, mag_err, detected
g = lc[lc["band"] == "G"]   # one band at a time

# never concatenate across bands or surveys; bjd_tdb is the time axis for science

More in the data guide.

Citation

This work has made use of data from the European Space Agency (ESA) mission Gaia (https://www.cosmos.esa.int/gaia), processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC, https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/dpac/consortium). Funding for the DPAC has been provided by national institutions, in particular the institutions participating in the Gaia Multilateral Agreement.

doi:10.5270/esa-qa4lep3
BibTeX · 5 entries from NASA ADS
@ARTICLE{2016A&A...595A...1G,
       author = {{Gaia Collaboration} and {Prusti}, T. and {de Bruijne}, J.~H.~J. and {Brown}, A.~G.~A. and {Vallenari}, A. and {Babusiaux}, C. and {Bailer-Jones}, C.~A.~L. and {Bastian}, U. and {Biermann}, M. and {Evans}, D.~W. and {Eyer}, L. and {Jansen}, F. and {Jordi}, C. and {Klioner}, S.~A. and {Lammers}, U. and {Lindegren}, L. and {Luri}, X. and {Mignard}, F. and {Milligan}, D.~J. and {Panem}, C. and {Poinsignon}, V. and {Pourbaix}, D. and {Randich}, S. and {Sarri}, G. and {Sartoretti}, P. and {Siddiqui}, H.~I. and {Soubiran}, C. and {Valette}, V. and {van Leeuwen}, F. and {Walton}, N.~A. and {Aerts}, C. and {Arenou}, F. and {Cropper}, M. and {Drimmel}, R. and {H{\o}g}, E. and {Katz}, D. and {Lattanzi}, M.~G. and {O'Mullane}, W. and {Grebel}, E.~K. and {Holland}, A.~D. and {Huc}, C. and {Passot}, X. and {Bramante}, L. and {Cacciari}, C. and {Casta{\~n}eda}, J. and {Chaoul}, L. and {Cheek}, N. and {De Angeli}, F. and {Fabricius}, C. and {Guerra}, R. and {Hern{\'a}ndez}, J. and {Jean-Antoine-Piccolo}, A. and {Masana}, E. and {Messineo}, R. and {Mowlavi}, N. and {Nienartowicz}, K. and {Ord{\'o}{\~n}ez-Blanco}, D. and {Panuzzo}, P. and {Portell}, J. and {Richards}, P.~J. and {Riello}, M. and {Seabroke}, G.~M. and {Tanga}, P. and {Th{\'e}venin}, F. and {Torra}, J. and {Els}, S.~G. and {Gracia-Abril}, G. and {Comoretto}, G. and {Garcia-Reinaldos}, M. and {Lock}, T. and {Mercier}, E. and {Altmann}, M. and {Andrae}, R. and {Astraatmadja}, T.~L. and {Bellas-Velidis}, I. and {Benson}, K. and {Berthier}, J. and {Blomme}, R. and {Busso}, G. and {Carry}, B. and {Cellino}, A. and {Clementini}, G. and {Cowell}, S. and {Creevey}, O. and {Cuypers}, J. and {Davidson}, M. and {De Ridder}, J. and {de Torres}, A. and {Delchambre}, L. and {Dell'Oro}, A. and {Ducourant}, C. and {Fr{\'e}mat}, Y. and {Garc{\'\i}a-Torres}, M. and {Gosset}, E. and {Halbwachs}, J.-L. and {Hambly}, N.~C. and {Harrison}, D.~L. and {Hauser}, M. and {Hestroffer}, D. and {Hodgkin}, S.~T. and {Huckle}, H.~E. and {Hutton}, A. and {Jasniewicz}, G. and {Jordan}, S. and {Kontizas}, M. and {Korn}, A.~J. and {Lanzafame}, A.~C. and {Manteiga}, M. and {Moitinho}, A. and {Muinonen}, K. and {Osinde}, J. and {Pancino}, E. and {Pauwels}, T. and {Petit}, J.-M. and {Recio-Blanco}, A. and {Robin}, A.~C. and {Sarro}, L.~M. and {Siopis}, C. and {Smith}, M. and {Smith}, K.~W. and {Sozzetti}, A. and {Thuillot}, W. and {van Reeven}, W. and {Viala}, Y. and {Abbas}, U. and {Abreu Aramburu}, A. and {Accart}, S. and {Aguado}, J.~J. and {Allan}, P.~M. and {Allasia}, W. and {Altavilla}, G. and {{\'A}lvarez}, M.~A. and {Alves}, J. and {Anderson}, R.~I. and {Andrei}, A.~H. and {Anglada Varela}, E. and {Antiche}, E. and {Antoja}, T. and {Ant{\'o}n}, S. and {Arcay}, B. and {Atzei}, A. and {Ayache}, L. and {Bach}, N. and {Baker}, S.~G. and {Balaguer-N{\'u}{\~n}ez}, L. and {Barache}, C. and {Barata}, C. and {Barbier}, A. and {Barblan}, F. and {Baroni}, M. and {Barrado y Navascu{\'e}s}, D. and {Barros}, M. and {Barstow}, M.~A. and {Becciani}, U. and {Bellazzini}, M. and {Bellei}, G. and {Bello Garc{\'\i}a}, A. and {Belokurov}, V. and {Bendjoya}, P. and {Berihuete}, A. and {Bianchi}, L. and {Bienaym{\'e}}, O. and {Billebaud}, F. and {Blagorodnova}, N. and {Blanco-Cuaresma}, S. and {Boch}, T. and {Bombrun}, A. and {Borrachero}, R. and {Bouquillon}, S. and {Bourda}, G. and {Bouy}, H. and {Bragaglia}, A. and {Breddels}, M.~A. and {Brouillet}, N. and {Br{\"u}semeister}, T. and {Bucciarelli}, B. and {Budnik}, F. and {Burgess}, P. and {Burgon}, R. and {Burlacu}, A. and {Busonero}, D. and {Buzzi}, R. and {Caffau}, E. and {Cambras}, J. and {Campbell}, H. and {Cancelliere}, R. and {Cantat-Gaudin}, T. and {Carlucci}, T. and {Carrasco}, J.~M. and {Castellani}, M. and {Charlot}, P. and {Charnas}, J. and {Charvet}, P. and {Chassat}, F. and {Chiavassa}, A. and {Clotet}, M. and {Cocozza}, G. and {Collins}, R.~S. and {Collins}, P. and {Costigan}, G.},
        title = "{The Gaia mission}",
      journal = {\aap},
     keywords = {space vehicles: instruments, Galaxy: structure, astrometry, parallaxes, proper motions, telescopes, Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics},
         year = 2016,
        month = nov,
       volume = {595},
          eid = {A1},
        pages = {A1},
          doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/201629272},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
       eprint = {1609.04153},
 primaryClass = {astro-ph.IM},
       adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016A&A...595A...1G},
      adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}
}

@ARTICLE{2023A&A...674A...1G,
       author = {{Gaia Collaboration} and {Vallenari}, A. and {Brown}, A.~G.~A. and {Prusti}, T. and {de Bruijne}, J.~H.~J. and {Arenou}, F. and {Babusiaux}, C. and {Biermann}, M. and {Creevey}, O.~L. and {Ducourant}, C. and {Evans}, D.~W. and {Eyer}, L. and {Guerra}, R. and {Hutton}, A. and {Jordi}, C. and {Klioner}, S.~A. and {Lammers}, U.~L. and {Lindegren}, L. and {Luri}, X. and {Mignard}, F. and {Panem}, C. and {Pourbaix}, D. and {Randich}, S. and {Sartoretti}, P. and {Soubiran}, C. and {Tanga}, P. and {Walton}, N.~A. and {Bailer-Jones}, C.~A.~L. and {Bastian}, U. and {Drimmel}, R. and {Jansen}, F. and {Katz}, D. and {Lattanzi}, M.~G. and {van Leeuwen}, F. and {Bakker}, J. and {Cacciari}, C. and {Casta{\~n}eda}, J. and {De Angeli}, F. and {Fabricius}, C. and {Fouesneau}, M. and {Fr{\'e}mat}, Y. and {Galluccio}, L. and {Guerrier}, A. and {Heiter}, U. and {Masana}, E. and {Messineo}, R. and {Mowlavi}, N. and {Nicolas}, C. and {Nienartowicz}, K. and {Pailler}, F. and {Panuzzo}, P. and {Riclet}, F. and {Roux}, W. and {Seabroke}, G.~M. and {Sordo}, R. and {Th{\'e}venin}, F. and {Gracia-Abril}, G. and {Portell}, J. and {Teyssier}, D. and {Altmann}, M. and {Andrae}, R. and {Audard}, M. and {Bellas-Velidis}, I. and {Benson}, K. and {Berthier}, J. and {Blomme}, R. and {Burgess}, P.~W. and {Busonero}, D. and {Busso}, G. and {C{\'a}novas}, H. and {Carry}, B. and {Cellino}, A. and {Cheek}, N. and {Clementini}, G. and {Damerdji}, Y. and {Davidson}, M. and {de Teodoro}, P. and {Nu{\~n}ez Campos}, M. and {Delchambre}, L. and {Dell'Oro}, A. and {Esquej}, P. and {Fern{\'a}ndez-Hern{\'a}ndez}, J. and {Fraile}, E. and {Garabato}, D. and {Garc{\'\i}a-Lario}, P. and {Gosset}, E. and {Haigron}, R. and {Halbwachs}, J.-L. and {Hambly}, N.~C. and {Harrison}, D.~L. and {Hern{\'a}ndez}, J. and {Hestroffer}, D. and {Hodgkin}, S.~T. and {Holl}, B. and {Jan{\ss}en}, K. and {Jevardat de Fombelle}, G. and {Jordan}, S. and {Krone-Martins}, A. and {Lanzafame}, A.~C. and {L{\"o}ffler}, W. and {Marchal}, O. and {Marrese}, P.~M. and {Moitinho}, A. and {Muinonen}, K. and {Osborne}, P. and {Pancino}, E. and {Pauwels}, T. and {Recio-Blanco}, A. and {Reyl{\'e}}, C. and {Riello}, M. and {Rimoldini}, L. and {Roegiers}, T. and {Rybizki}, J. and {Sarro}, L.~M. and {Siopis}, C. and {Smith}, M. and {Sozzetti}, A. and {Utrilla}, E. and {van Leeuwen}, M. and {Abbas}, U. and {{\'A}brah{\'a}m}, P. and {Abreu Aramburu}, A. and {Aerts}, C. and {Aguado}, J.~J. and {Ajaj}, M. and {Aldea-Montero}, F. and {Altavilla}, G. and {{\'A}lvarez}, M.~A. and {Alves}, J. and {Anders}, F. and {Anderson}, R.~I. and {Anglada Varela}, E. and {Antoja}, T. and {Baines}, D. and {Baker}, S.~G. and {Balaguer-N{\'u}{\~n}ez}, L. and {Balbinot}, E. and {Balog}, Z. and {Barache}, C. and {Barbato}, D. and {Barros}, M. and {Barstow}, M.~A. and {Bartolom{\'e}}, S. and {Bassilana}, J.-L. and {Bauchet}, N. and {Becciani}, U. and {Bellazzini}, M. and {Berihuete}, A. and {Bernet}, M. and {Bertone}, S. and {Bianchi}, L. and {Binnenfeld}, A. and {Blanco-Cuaresma}, S. and {Blazere}, A. and {Boch}, T. and {Bombrun}, A. and {Bossini}, D. and {Bouquillon}, S. and {Bragaglia}, A. and {Bramante}, L. and {Breedt}, E. and {Bressan}, A. and {Brouillet}, N. and {Brugaletta}, E. and {Bucciarelli}, B. and {Burlacu}, A. and {Butkevich}, A.~G. and {Buzzi}, R. and {Caffau}, E. and {Cancelliere}, R. and {Cantat-Gaudin}, T. and {Carballo}, R. and {Carlucci}, T. and {Carnerero}, M.~I. and {Carrasco}, J.~M. and {Casamiquela}, L. and {Castellani}, M. and {Castro-Ginard}, A. and {Chaoul}, L. and {Charlot}, P. and {Chemin}, L. and {Chiaramida}, V. and {Chiavassa}, A. and {Chornay}, N. and {Comoretto}, G. and {Contursi}, G. and {Cooper}, W.~J. and {Cornez}, T. and {Cowell}, S. and {Crifo}, F. and {Cropper}, M. and {Crosta}, M. and {Crowley}, C. and {Dafonte}, C. and {Dapergolas}, A. and {David}, M. and {David}, P. and {de Laverny}, P. and {De Luise}, F. and {De March}, R.},
        title = "{Gaia Data Release 3. Summary of the content and survey properties}",
      journal = {\aap},
     keywords = {techniques: photometric, techniques: spectroscopic, techniques: radial velocities, catalogs, astrometry, parallaxes, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies},
         year = 2023,
        month = jun,
       volume = {674},
          eid = {A1},
        pages = {A1},
          doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/202243940},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
       eprint = {2208.00211},
 primaryClass = {astro-ph.GA},
       adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023A&A...674A...1G},
      adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}
}

@ARTICLE{2023A&A...674A..13E,
       author = {{Eyer}, L. and {Audard}, M. and {Holl}, B. and {Rimoldini}, L. and {Carnerero}, M.~I. and {Clementini}, G. and {De Ridder}, J. and {Distefano}, E. and {Evans}, D.~W. and {Gavras}, P. and {Gomel}, R. and {Lebzelter}, T. and {Marton}, G. and {Mowlavi}, N. and {Panahi}, A. and {Ripepi}, V. and {Wyrzykowski}, {\L}. and {Nienartowicz}, K. and {Jevardat de Fombelle}, G. and {Lecoeur-Taibi}, I. and {Rohrbasser}, L. and {Riello}, M. and {Garc{\'\i}a-Lario}, P. and {Lanzafame}, A.~C. and {Mazeh}, T. and {Raiteri}, C.~M. and {Zucker}, S. and {{\'A}brah{\'a}m}, P. and {Aerts}, C. and {Aguado}, J.~J. and {Anderson}, R.~I. and {Bashi}, D. and {Binnenfeld}, A. and {Faigler}, S. and {Garofalo}, A. and {Karbevska}, L. and {K{\'o}sp{\'a}l}, {\'A}. and {Kruszy{\'n}ska}, K. and {Kun}, M. and {Lanza}, A.~F. and {Leccia}, S. and {Marconi}, M. and {Messina}, S. and {Molinaro}, R. and {Moln{\'a}r}, L. and {Muraveva}, T. and {Musella}, I. and {Nagy}, Z. and {Pagano}, I. and {Palaversa}, L. and {Plachy}, E. and {Pr{\v{s}}a}, A. and {Rybicki}, K.~A. and {Shahaf}, S. and {Szabados}, L. and {Szegedi-Elek}, E. and {Trabucchi}, M. and {Barblan}, F. and {Grenon}, M. and {Roelens}, M. and {S{\"u}veges}, M.},
        title = "{Gaia Data Release 3. Summary of the variability processing and analysis}",
      journal = {\aap},
     keywords = {stars: variables: general, Galaxy: stellar content, catalogs, binaries: eclipsing, starspots, stars: oscillations, Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics, Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics},
         year = 2023,
        month = jun,
       volume = {674},
          eid = {A13},
        pages = {A13},
          doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/202244242},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
       eprint = {2206.06416},
 primaryClass = {astro-ph.SR},
       adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023A&A...674A..13E},
      adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}
}

@ARTICLE{2021A&A...649A...3R,
       author = {{Riello}, M. and {De Angeli}, F. and {Evans}, D.~W. and {Montegriffo}, P. and {Carrasco}, J.~M. and {Busso}, G. and {Palaversa}, L. and {Burgess}, P.~W. and {Diener}, C. and {Davidson}, M. and {Rowell}, N. and {Fabricius}, C. and {Jordi}, C. and {Bellazzini}, M. and {Pancino}, E. and {Harrison}, D.~L. and {Cacciari}, C. and {van Leeuwen}, F. and {Hambly}, N.~C. and {Hodgkin}, S.~T. and {Osborne}, P.~J. and {Altavilla}, G. and {Barstow}, M.~A. and {Brown}, A.~G.~A. and {Castellani}, M. and {Cowell}, S. and {De Luise}, F. and {Gilmore}, G. and {Giuffrida}, G. and {Hidalgo}, S. and {Holland}, G. and {Marinoni}, S. and {Pagani}, C. and {Piersimoni}, A.~M. and {Pulone}, L. and {Ragaini}, S. and {Rainer}, M. and {Richards}, P.~J. and {Sanna}, N. and {Walton}, N.~A. and {Weiler}, M. and {Yoldas}, A.},
        title = "{Gaia Early Data Release 3. Photometric content and validation}",
      journal = {\aap},
     keywords = {catalogs, surveys, instrumentation: photometers, techniques: photometric, Galaxy: general, Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics},
         year = 2021,
        month = may,
       volume = {649},
          eid = {A3},
        pages = {A3},
          doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/202039587},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
       eprint = {2012.01916},
 primaryClass = {astro-ph.IM},
       adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021A&A...649A...3R},
      adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}
}

@ARTICLE{2023A&A...674A..25H,
       author = {{Holl}, B. and {Fabricius}, C. and {Portell}, J. and {Lindegren}, L. and {Panuzzo}, P. and {Bernet}, M. and {Casta{\~n}eda}, J. and {Jevardat de Fombelle}, G. and {Audard}, M. and {Ducourant}, C. and {Harrison}, D.~L. and {Evans}, D.~W. and {Busso}, G. and {Sozzetti}, A. and {Gosset}, E. and {Arenou}, F. and {De Angeli}, F. and {Riello}, M. and {Eyer}, L. and {Rimoldini}, L. and {Gavras}, P. and {Mowlavi}, N. and {Nienartowicz}, K. and {Lecoeur-Ta{\"\i}bi}, I. and {Garc{\'\i}a-Lario}, P. and {Pourbaix}, D.},
        title = "{Gaia Data Release 3. Gaia scan-angle-dependent signals and spurious periods}",
      journal = {\aap},
     keywords = {methods: data analysis, techniques: photometric, methods: numerical, techniques: radial velocities, astrometry, Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics},
         year = 2023,
        month = jun,
       volume = {674},
          eid = {A25},
        pages = {A25},
          doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/202245353},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
       eprint = {2212.11971},
 primaryClass = {astro-ph.IM},
       adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023A&A...674A..25H},
      adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}
}

Also cite AAVSO VSX.

license
CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (ESA Gaia data)
data
https://gea.esac.esa.int/archive/
release
DR3