053.3 Where the Stars Are

Halo stars and globular clusters have random orbits around the central bulge. Their orbits are inclined at all angles and can be elliptical. They occasionally pass through the disk but cross it quickly and keep going.

Population I stars have circular orbits that stay in the plane of the disk.

Stars closer to the central bulge take less time to go around than stars farther out.

Our own sun takes 225 million years to complete one orbit around the central bulge.