Free Astronomy Magazine May-June 2026

MAY-JUNE 2026 that our Sun was born around 4.6 billion years ago, more than 10,000 light-years closer to the center of the Milky Way than we are today. While studies of the composition of stars support this theory, this has long proven a conundrum to scien- tists. Observations reveal an enor- mous bar-like structure at our ga- lactic center which creates a “coro- tation barrier,” which makes it dif- ficult for stars to escape so far from Our Sun escaped the galactic center along with its “twins” by NAOJ Daisuke Taniguchi, Takuji Tsujimoto W hile archaeology on Earth studies the human past, galactic archaeology traces the vast journeys of stars and galax- ies. For example, scientists know A bove: Stars similar to our Sun form a mass migration from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, oc- curring approximately 4 to 6 billion years ago. [NAOJ] the center. So how did we get here? To answer this question, a team led by Assistant Professors Daisuke Taniguchi from Tokyo Metropolitan University and Takuji Tsujimoto from the National Astronomical Ob-