> Disk galaxies like the Milky Way form stars “inside-out” — starting from the center and working outwards through the disk. So, as a general rule, the farther out astronomers look, the younger the stars are.
Do they meant looking out from Earth (which is actually nearer to the center of a spiral arm than to either end) or out from the galactic bulge. Either way doesn't make sense.
They don't mean that the stars migrate out (then further stars would be older), they mean that stars further away from the center start forming later (so further stars are younger).
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[ 348 ms ] story [ 4161 ms ] threadI agree that the phrasing can be confusing.
Paper: https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2026/04/aa58144-...
First sentence in the article: "Astronomers have located the edge of the Milky Way’s star-forming disk for the first time"
Wouldn't you expect someone from a publication called "Sky & Telescope" to know that these two are different things?!
Also, in diagrams showing our galaxy, I would greatly appreciate a "you are here" marker which points out the location of our solar system...