We show that error distributions of a compilation of 28 recent independent measurements of the distance from the Sun to the Galactic center , R _ { 0 } , are wider than a standard Gaussian and best fit by an n = 4 Student ’ s t probability density function .
Given this non-Gaussianity , the results of our median statistics analysis , summarized as R _ { 0 } = 8.0 \pm 0.3 kpc ( 2 \sigma error ) , probably provides the most reliable estimate of R _ { 0 } .