Question

How long will it take the Sun to move from one constellation to the next?

Answer 1

The stars are in constant motion, each along its own orbital trajectory around the center of mass of our Milky Way Galaxy. They circle in the same direction as they revolve in their wide, lengthy galactic orbits. Each star’s orbit may be inclined with respect to others, and their velocities depend on their distance from the Milky Way center. The proper motion of most stars is extremely small, measured in milli-arcseconds per year, where an arcsecond is 1/3600 of a degree. The star with the fastest proper motion in our skies is Barnard’s Star(10.3 arcseconds per year). In terms of the pinky-measure, it would take Barnards’ Star about 350 years to move one pinky-width across the sky. So it will take the Sun, thousands or lakhs, of year to move from constellation to the next.