Galactic year
Article
A galactic year is the time required for the Solar System to complete one orbit around the centre of the Milky Way. Estimates are commonly in the range of roughly 225 to 250 million Earth years.
The Sun orbits within the Milky Way's disk at a distance of about 26,000 light-years from the galactic centre. Its path is influenced by the combined gravity of stars, gas, dust, dark matter, and the Galaxy's central mass concentration.
The Solar System does not follow a perfectly circular or flat path. It moves relative to spiral structure and oscillates above and below the galactic mid-plane while travelling around the Galaxy.
The galactic year is sometimes used as a scale for comparing events in Earth's geological and biological history. Proposed links between galactic motion and terrestrial cycles remain difficult to test because the timescales are long and the Galactic environment is complex.
Source details and credits
- Source / publisher: Wikipedia
- URL type: WWW
- Credits: Wikipedia
- URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_year