Voluminous clouds of cosmic dust permeate our galaxy, but only recently has software allowed detailed observations of the stuff at scale.

Using advanced artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, they trained a neural network to model the dust’s effect on starlight. By applying this model to the Gaia data, they were able to map out the 3D structure of dust across the Milky Way like never before.

When we observe distant celestial objects, there is a possible catch: Is that star I am observing really as reddish as it appears? Or does the star merely look reddish, since its light has had to travel through a cloud of cosmic dust to reach our telescope?

Previous efforts to map the galaxy's dust were challenged by limited data, but the Gaia mission has provided a treasure trove of information.