Our Sun is actually a cosmic refugee. Around 4.6 billion years ago, it first ignited in a hostile, radiation-blasted neighborhood 10,000 light-years closer to the Milky Way’s center than it is now.

While the upcoming total solar eclipse is a special moment to reflect on our place in the universe, scientists have been studying the birth of the sun and the formation of our solar system for a long ...

For billions of years before reaching its current location, the Sun may have slowly travelled as part of a large group, or “wave,” of stars drifting out from the inner parts of the Milky Way. This ...

Scientists have uncovered evidence that our Sun may have traveled across the Milky Way as part of a massive migration of Sun-like stars billions of years ago. The journey may have carried the solar ...

This story comes from our special January 2021 issue, “The Beginning and the End of the Universe.” Click here to purchase the full issue. Some 4.6 billion years ago, our Sun was born from a cloud of ...