I’m pretty sure it’s because it’s harder to detect individual stars the farther away from us they are. So you’d expect the stars they found to be clustered around us. We are in the center of that group. The simulation goes back in time to imagine how the stars got to be where they are today.
If the earth was on the other side of the galaxy the group would appear there because the stars we would find would be there. I think the article writer misunderstood the astronomer about this and mismatched responses.
Thanks. I was suspecting that, because seeing stuff through the galactic core is so iffy. But TFA was so damn coy about why they're all on our side. As if it was some deep puzzle.
If the earth was on the other side of the galaxy the group would appear there because the stars we would find would be there. I think the article writer misunderstood the astronomer about this and mismatched responses.