Close encounters to the Sun in Gaia DR3

By integrating orbits through the Galactic potential, I identify which of 33 million stars in Gaia DR3 with complete phase space information come close to the Sun. 61 stars formally approach within 1pc, although there is high confidence in only 42 (two thirds) of these, the rest being spurious measurements or (in) binary systems.

Most of the stars will encounter within the past or future 6Myr; earlier/later encounters are less common due to the magnitude limit of the Gaia radial velocities (RVs). Several close encountering stars are identified for the first time, and the encounter times, distances, and velocities of previously known close encounters are determined more precisely on account of the significantly improved precision of Gaia DR3 over earlier releases.