Big Data exploration in the era of Gaia
(PHYSorg.com Space & Earth)

Two astronomers from the University of Groningen (The Netherlands) have developed a software library that can effortlessly generate visualisations based on hundreds of millions of data points. Maarten Breddels and Jovan Veljanoski initially developed their software to handle the enormous quantity of data from the Gaia mission. However, the software can also show patterns in other large data files. The software is open source and free to use. The researchers explain the ins and outs in an article that has been accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.