Today we publish Gaia Sky 3.7.0. The main point of this release is to fix a show-stopping bug that occurs with the latest version of macOS, code-named Tahoe. On macOS Tahoe, Gaia Sky 3.6.11 crashes at startup due to the operating system hardware information library (oshi) returning nothing when asked for the operating system code name. This has been fixed in 3.7.0. But the fun does not end here, as 3.7.0 is cut from the bleeding edge development branch, so it includes all sorts of new features, QoL improvements, and additional fixes. Read on for more.
As of today, we have consolidated the three Gaia DR3 black hole datasets (BH1, with key system-gaia-bh1, BH2, with key system-gaia-bh2, and BH3, with key system-gaia-bh3) into a single dataset that contains all three systems. The new dataset is called “Gaia black holes” and has the key system-gaia-bhs.
Below is the link to the new black holes dataset in the resources section. As always, the dataset is already available for download from the datasets manager. We strongly recommend to delete the old system-gaia-bh1|2|3 if you download this new dataset. Otherwise, you’ll end up with duplicated objects.
Exactly a week after the release of 3.6.10, we release Gaia Sky 3.6.11. This is a small-ish release that contains a few new API calls and some important bug fixes. Keep reading for the list of changes.
Today we are happy to announce the release of Gaia Sky 3.6.10. This is a release that improves on 3.6.9 by bringing a handful of minor improvements and quality-of-life updates, and a lot of bug fixes. Additionally, it enables new versions of the base data and the high resolution textures packs, and a new virtual texture dataset based on Sentinel-2 data.
Here is a screenshot with that Sentinel-2 dataset, which goes down to a resolution of 10 meters/pixel:
Edit (2025-07-03): Update post with fixes in patch release 3.6.9-2.
Exactly one month after Gaia Sky 3.6.8, today we are proud to release Gaia Sky 3.6.9. This new version brings some exciting features, like motion trails for star and particle groups, a new Turkish translation, and a new API (v2), and fixes some bugs. Keep reading for the full list of changes included in this release.
Today we release Gaia Sky 3.6.8. It brings a major UI refresh, significant performance improvements, and many new features and bug fixes. Keep reading to know more.
Today we make available a brand new catalog in Gaia Sky, derived from the Gaia Data Release 3 (DR3) dataset. This catalog is a handpicked collection of the most precise stellar measurements available in DR3, designed for applications where accuracy in parallax and astrometric fidelity is essential. This catalog includes a total of 646,400 stars, with a clear bias toward brighter magnitudes. It is a small, non-LOD (non-Level-of-Detail) catalog, designed for broad compatibility. It will be the recommended star dataset starting from Gaia Sky 3.6.8.
It is ideal for:
Laptops
VR
Low-end desktops
Devices without dedicated GPUs in general
Use cases where performance and simplicity matter more than completeness
Hammer projection of the new Gaia DR3 Best catalog.
The upcoming release of Gaia Sky 3.6.8 brings significant performance improvements, focusing on memory optimization and CPU usage reduction. In this post, we’ll take a closer look at these enhancements and how they translate into smoother and faster performance.
