A new research published in the Astrophysical Journal has revealed that Sun is five billion years old.

According to the researchers, Milky Way galaxy birthed a good number of stars during the ‘baby boom’ period about ten billion years ago. However, the Earth’s Sun emerged only five billion years ago.

Although there is no photographic evidence to show how the Milky Way looked like at that time, the research team was able to come up with an album of about 2,000 images, which displayed photos of Milky Way-like galaxies.

This gave the best idea of how the Milky Way had grown in the ten billion years since the baby boom period. The photos indicated that galaxies underwent a big change in the mass of its stars over the past 10 billion years.

According to lead author Casey Papovich of Texas A&M University, the research permitted them to view how the Milky Way could have appeared previously.

Papovich said, “This research reveals that these galaxies undertook a large modification in the mass of its superstars over the previous 10 billion years, expanding by an aspect of 10, which validates concepts concerning their development”. He added that stellar-mass growth occurred within the first 5 billion years of their birth.

The research is in line with previous studies that suggested that galaxies similar to the Milky Way had started out small, but ingested large amounts of gas subsequently, which triggered a wave of star births.