"The bar acts like a giant mixer for our galaxy," says Steven Majewski, a professor of astronomy at the University of Virginia and the principal investigator for the APOGEE project. "As the bar rotates, it churns up the motions of nearby stars. Over time, this mixing should have a large effect on the disk of our galaxy, including in spiral arms where we live, but this effect is not well understood. This new sample of definitively-identified bar stars gives us a unique opportunity to learn more about exactly how this giant blender mixes up our galaxy."