Dara Ó Briain:
New discoveries in the Galaxy and its neighbourhood are all well and good, but surely it's not like just anyone can get involved?
Well, the Gaia spacecraft is expected to discover hundreds of thousands of new and potentially interesting celestial objects.
Including supernovae, exoplanets, asteroids, quasars, white dwarfs, and many others.
In fact so many things that they’re pretty much depending on others to get involved.
For a start, you’ll be able to get science alerts whenever Gaia notices an object has changed brightness - with coordinates, so you can have a look and let us know before they vanish forever.
And you’ll be able to get much more involved than that.
Through the website groups will be able to take photographs by controlling high-tech telescope or using their own at home.
Then, comparing the picture to other data available you’ll be able to have a go at working out what it is and report it back to the Gaia scientists.
You may even be the first person to spot something really interesting and you may forever be known as the person who first discovered a supernova or something even more exciting.
But either way, you’ll be learning about the Galaxy and beyond, and adding to our overall knowledge of the universe.