A bar of stars at the center of the Milky Way looks surprisingly young
Future models of the galaxy’s evolution will have to account for why the bar developed so late
![An illustration of the Milky Way galaxy showing the bar-shaped collection of stars at the center of spiraling galactic arms.](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/eso1339g.jpg?fit=580%2C580&ssl=1)
The bar-shaped accumulation of stars at the center of the Milky Way (illustrated) might be billions of years younger than the rest of our galaxy.
R. Hurt/JPL-Caltech/NASA, ESO