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.](jpg/eso1339g4544.jpg)
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