An Upper Limit to the Age of the Galactic Bar
Astrophysics
2009-11-07 v1
Abstract
Using data from the Two Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS), we identify a population of infrared carbon (IR C) stars with J-K >= 2 in the Milky Way. These stars are shown to trace the stellar bar previously identified in IR and optical surveys. The properties of C stars strongly suggest that they are of intermediate age. We conclude that the bar is likely to have formed more recently than 3 Gyr ago, and must be younger than 6 Gyr. Implications and further tests of this conclusion are briefly discussed.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0206199,
title = {An Upper Limit to the Age of the Galactic Bar},
author = {Andrew A. Cole and Martin D. Weinberg},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0206199},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
accepted by ApJ Letters; 13 pages, 4 eps figures