I'm a little drunk, but maybe this is a valid question. Is the inner region of our galaxy older than than the outer? I just read the nytimes article about the black hole in the center of the Milky Way. I can't find anything on that subject. I'm thinking about whether the solar system was created by the friction of this black hole or if it was created before hand and then pulled in. A huge gap possibly in my astronomy knowledge, but maybe someone can clue me in. My thinking is that most solar systems had to result from the friction of this thing in the center of our galaxy. The black hole originating from a bunch of gas particles that just happen to be near each other to start the gravitation thing happening would seem to be rare enough of an event that the rest of all of this would have had to have been created by this original phenomenon. Yes JimS., there's that word again that clues you that I'm drunk. Actually, I'll say this theory, since all know I'm drunk, that dark matter is everywhere and that there are areas that gravitation pulls together large concentrations of this which forms mass and pulls things by the nature of the process of gravitation into it and what we see are the byproducts. (particles, light waves) These things are just reflections of the dark matter gathering together producing these energy responses. I'll shut up now, because I don't know what the hell I'm saying.