Starts With A Bang Podcast #112 — Galactic Archaeology | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | Dec, 2024

Even with just a momentary view of our galaxy right now, the data we collect enables us to reconstruct so much of our past history.

When we look out at our home galaxy, the Milky Way, we have to recognize that even though it’s been growing and evolving for 13.8 billion years, we’re only observing it as it is right now: a snapshot in time determined by the light that’s arriving in our instruments right now. However, just like we’re living “right now” in human history but can, through the science of archaeology, learn about historical events that happened many thousands of years ago (before recorded history) or even earlier, we can learn about the Milky Way’s history through the astronomical equivalent: galactic archaeology.