Related papers: Modeling proper motions beyond the Galactic bulge
High-precision astrometry on sub-micro-arcsecond level in angular resolution requires accurate determination of the trajectory of a light-signal from the celestial light source through the gravitational field of the Solar system toward the…
The light distribution in the inner few kiloparsecs of the Milky Way is recovered non-parametrically from a dust-corrected near-infrared COBE/DIRBE surface brightness map of the inner Galaxy. The best fits to the photometry are obtained…
We present the results of a large-scale proper motion study of the central ~36'x16' of the Milky Way, based on our high angular resolution GALACTICNUCLEUS survey (epoch 2015) combined with the HST Paschen-alpha survey (epoch 2008). Our…
We consider what is the best way to extract science from large surveys of the Milky Way galaxy. The diversity of data gathered in these surveys, together with our position within the Galaxy, imply that science must be extracted by fitting…
Near-future surveys promise a dramatic improvement in the number and precision of astrometric, photometric and spectroscopic measurements of stars in the Milky Way's disk. We examine the impact of such surveys on our understanding of the…
The center of the Milky Way is a unique environment of great astrophysical interest, but its extreme crowding and extinction make it difficult to study. The GALACTICNUCLEUS survey, a high-angular-resolution near-infrared imaging program,…
We measure the line-of-sight accelerations of 26 binary pulsars due to the Milky Way's gravitational potential, and produce a 3-dimensional map of the acceleration field of the Galaxy. Acceleration measurements directly give us the change…
Action-based dynamical modelling, using stars as dynamical tracers, is an excellent diagnostic to estimate the underlying axisymmetric matter distribution of the Milky Way. However, the Milky Way's bar causes non-axisymmetric resonance…
We present improved relative astrometry for stars within the central half parsec of our Galactic Center based on data obtained with the 10 m W. M. Keck Observatory from 1995 to 2017. The new methods used to improve the astrometric precision…
The nature of our Milky Way Galaxy is reexamined from an eclectic point of view. Evidence for a central bar, for example, is not reflected in the distribution of RR Lyrae variables in the central bulge [4,5], and it is not clear if either a…
I provide a model rotation curve for the Milky Way that matches the details of the terminal velocity curve normalized to the Galactocentric distance $R_0 = 8.122$ kpc obtained by the GRAVITY collaboration and the corresponding circular…
The transverse peculiar velocities caused by the mass distribution of large-scale structure provide a test of the theoretical matter power spectrum and the cosmological parameters that contribute to its shape. Typically, the matter density…
Dark matter comprises the bulk of the matter in the universe but its particle nature and cosmological origin remain mysterious. Knowledge of the dark matter density distribution in the Milky Way Galaxy is crucial to both our understanding…
We compile and analyze ~200 trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions of molecular masers associated with very young high-mass stars. These measurements strongly suggest that the Milky Way is a four-arm spiral. Fitting log-periodic…
Rotation curves are often used to estimate the mass distribution of spiral galaxies, assuming circular rotation of disks. However, non-circular motions caused by a non-axisymmetric gravitational potential, such as a stellar bar, may disturb…
We confirm, quantify, and provide a table of the coherent velocity substructure of the Milky Way disk within 2 kpc of the Sun towards the Galactic anticenter, with 0.2 kpc resolution. We use the radial velocities of ~340,000 F-type stars…
We show that with a Next Generation Large Telescope one can detect the accelerated motions of ~100 stars orbiting the massive black hole at the Galactic center. The positions and velocities of these stars will be measured to astrometric and…
Recent VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometer) observations determined the distances and proper motions of star-forming regions in spiral arms directly. They showed that star-forming regions and young stars have large peculiar motions, as…
The presence of massive stars (MSs) in the region close to the Galactic Center (GC) poses several questions about their origin. The harsh environment of the GC favors specific formation scenarios, each of which should imprint characteristic…
This paper describes a method for quantitatively comparing an N-body model with a sample of discrete kinematic data. The comparison has two stages: (i) finding the optimum scaling and orientation of the model relative to the data; and (ii)…