Where is the Sun located in the Milky Way?

Observations of the distribution of neutral hydrogen gas in the 1960s revealed that our Sun is located somewhere above the Milky Way's mid-plane. Since then, a number of methodologies have been employed to estimate the Sun's position above the galactic plane. The majority of measurements are based on statistical studies of the distribution of stars, clusters, gas, and dust around the Sun, and estimates have ranged from 6 parsecs (1 parsec = 3.26 lightyears) to 42 parsecs.

The most current estimations place the distance at roughly 20 parsecs, or 65 lightyears. This distance, however, varies as the Sun rises and falls over its 230-250 million-year journey around the Galaxy. The Sun is thought to oscillate 2.7 times each 'galactic year,' with the most recent journey through the plane occurring roughly 3-5 million years ago. The Sun is considered to be able to travel 50-100 parsecs above or below the plane (between 163 and 326 lightyears).