What is the approximate distance of the Sun's orbit from the Galactic Center?
Answer
Between 26,000 to 27,000 light-years.
The location of the Sun within the Milky Way disk is quantified by its orbital distance relative to the galaxy's rotational center. This distance is established to be in the range of 26,000 to 27,000 light-years away from the Galactic Center. This measurement places our solar system clearly outside the central bar structure and significantly interior to the outermost regions of the galaxy. Understanding this figure is fundamental, as it provides the baseline measurement against which the distances to major structural components, like the Sagittarius Arm (which is 10,000 light-years inward from us), are calculated.
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What Is The Sagittarius Arm Of The Milky Way? - Physics Frontier
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