The 365 Days of Astronomy

UNAWE Space Scoop - Story Of the Sun's 'Road Trip' Through the Milky Way With Friends

May 30, 2026·7 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

https://spacescoop.org/en/scoops/2605/story-of-suns-road-trip-through-the-milky-way-with-friends/ Did you know that our Sun and its many, uh, childhood friends were all born at a place much closer to the center of our Galaxy? Over the years, our Sun and its friends have been on sort of a speedy galactic tour traveling a distance of almost 10,000 light-years from the center of the Milky Way. But traveling much farther than that on a long curved trajectory! Astronomers call this the 'mass migration' of stars. Kind of like a flock of migrating birds.    How and when did these stellar siblings migrate to where they are now? To find out, a team of astronomers did some galactic archaeology, tracing the history of stars in our Galaxy. Using data from ESA's Gaia telescope, the team found almost 6,600 stars just like our Sun. The astronomers aptly call these stars the 'solar twins.'    We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs.  Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too!  Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations.  Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org.

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