 This image captures a 220 by 110 light-years portion of our galaxy's bulge. It contains over 180,000 stars. A survey team is analyzing these stars to see how old they are. The question at hand is did the stars within the bulge form early in our galaxy's history 10 to 12 billion years ago, or did they build up over time through multiple episodes of star formation? Some studies have found evidence for at least two star-forming bursts, leading to stellar populations as old as 10 billion years, or as young as 3 billion years. Now, a comprehensive new study of millions of stars found that most stars within 1,000 light-years of the Milky Way center formed 10 billion years ago. But the study is not conclusive. The James Webb Space Telescope will be used to help find the answers to this question.