The Sun orbits the center of the Milky Way at a speed of about 250 kilometers/sec, and its orbital radius is about 8,500 parsecs. It takes over 200 million years to make one full orbit of the Galactic Center. Meanwhile, the Sun is drifting at 19 km/sec in the general direction of Vega as a consequence of the local variation in galactic rotation in our part of the Milky Way.
Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald
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