The Japanese project VERA (VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry) was launched in 2000 to compile a three-dimensional map of the velocities of objects and spatial structures of the Milky Way. VERA Sky Survey uses a technique called interferometry to combine data from radio telescopes across the Japanese archipelago to achieve the same resolution as a telescope with a diameter of 2,300 kilometers. This year, the first astrometric catalog from the VERA mission was published, containing data on 99 objects. Based on the data of the VERA astrometric catalog and the results of other observations, astronomers have compiled maps of the distances to objects and the parameters of their motion. The distances between objects in our Galaxy are less than previously thought. From the Earth to the center of the Galaxy it turned out 25,800 light years, and the velocity map of space objects shows that the Earth is moving around the center of the Galaxy at a speed of 227 kilometers per second.
Research published in the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan.
It should be noted that the accepted standard of distances overestimates the distances, therefore, in reality, the distances are even less than the Japanese determined, from Earth is about 20,000 light-years to the center of the Galaxy , but the direction of their thinking is correct.