The Messenger Astronomical News

Report on the ESO Workshop “The Galactic Bulge at the Crossroads”

Authors
  • Saviane, Ivo [European Southern Observatory (ESO)]
  • Zoccali, Manuela [Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile; Instituto Milenio de Astrofísica, Santiago, Chile]
  • Minniti, Dante [Instituto Milenio de Astrofísica, Santiago, Chile; Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile; Vatican Observatory, Italy]
  • Geisler, Doug [Universidad de Concepción, Chile; Universidad de La Serena, Chile]
  • Dias, Bruno [Instituto Milenio de Astrofísica, Santiago, Chile; Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile]

Section
Astronomical News
Abstract

The Galactic bulge is of great interest to researchers working in several different areas and it has seen a surge of interest in recent years; indeed, half of the papers discussed at the meeting were published after 2014. This interest is motivated for several reasons: it is a primary component of the Milky Way, comprising ~ 25% of its stellar mass; and all major stellar populations intersect there, reaching their highest densities, thus making it truly a crossroads. Its formation is intimately related to that of the Milky Way, therefore it offers clues to understanding the structure, formation, and evolution of the Galaxy. A variety of bulge morphologies are seen in the local Universe, so a comparative study of the properties of the Galactic bulge helps with understanding bulge formation in general. Finally, ever more detailed studies of galaxies at high redshift promise to catch Milky Way proxies in their infancy, thus revealing the initial conditions of bulge formation. All of these aspects were reviewed by invited and contributed talks, and in poster sessions.


Dates
Created: 2020-03-01/2020-03-31
Length
5 pages

Cite this article:

Saviane, I., Zoccali, M., Minniti, D., Geisler, D., Dias, B.; Report on the ESO Workshop "The Galactic Bulge at the Crossroads". The Messenger 179 (March 2020): 31–35. https://doi.org/10.18727/0722-6691/5191