The Sun, along with the rest of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy, orbits around the center of the galaxy in a motion known as galactic rotation. The motion of stars in the galaxy is influenced by the gravitational pull of the combined mass of all the stars, gas, dust, and dark matter in the galaxy.
The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy, and the Sun is located in one of its spiral arms called the Orion Arm or Local Spur. The exact period of the Sun's orbit around the galactic center is approximately 225-250 million years, which is known as a galactic year or cosmic year. This means that the last time the Sun was in its current position, dinosaurs were roaming the Earth.
The Sun and other stars in the galaxy follow roughly circular paths as they orbit the galactic center. However, it's important to note that the motion is not a simple, uniform rotation like the Earth's rotation around its axis. Instead, stars in the galaxy, including the Sun, experience differential rotation. This means that stars at different distances from the galactic center have different orbital speeds.
Stars closer to the center of the galaxy, where the gravitational pull is stronger, have faster orbital velocities than stars farther away. As a result, the Sun and other stars in the Milky Way move at different speeds depending on their location within the galaxy.
Our understanding of the Milky Way's structure and the Sun's motion within it has been largely inferred from observations of other stars, gas clouds, and measurements of their velocities and positions. Various instruments and techniques, such as radio telescopes and astrometry, have provided valuable data to help us build a picture of the Milky Way's rotation and the Sun's place within it.