Related papers: Three classical Cepheid variable stars in the nucl…
Flaring and warping of the disk of the Milky Way have been inferred from observations of atomic hydrogen, but stars associated with flaring have not hitherto been reported. In the area beyond the Galactic centre the stars are largely hidden…
High spatial resolution, near-infrared imaging and spectroscopy of the nuclear star cluster have given key new insights about the dynamics, evolution and mass distribution in the Milky Way Center. The central parsec is powered by a cluster…
Classical Cepheids are useful tracers of the Galactic young stellar population because their distances and ages can be determined from their period-luminosity and period-age relations. In addition, the radial velocities and chemical…
The nuclear disc is a dense stellar structure at the centre of the Milky Way, with a radius of $\sim$150 pc. It has been a place of intense star formation in the past several tens of millions of years but its overall formation history has…
We conduct a quantitative analysis of the star formation history (SFH) of the Milky Way's bulge by exploiting the constraining power of its stellar [Fe/H] and [Mg/Fe] distribution functions. Using APOGEE data, we confirm the…
We present an updated three dimensional map of the Milky Way based on a sample of 2431 classical Cepheid variable stars, supplemented with about 200 newly detected classical Cepheids from the OGLE survey. The new objects were discovered as…
We share the most up-to-date, carefully verified list of classical Cepheids residing in the Galaxy. Based on long-term OGLE experience in the field of variable stars, we have inspected candidates for Cepheids from surveys such as ASAS,…
This chapter reviews the three-dimensional structure, age, kinematics, and chemistry of the Milky Way (MW) region within ~2 kpc from its center (hereafter referred to as the 'bulge') from an observational perspective. While not exhaustive…
The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy, with physical properties inferred from various tracers informed by the extrapolation of structures seen in other galaxies. However, the distances of these tracers are measured indirectly and are…
(abridged) We provide Ks photometry for roughly 39,000 stars and H-band photometry for about 11,000 stars within a field of about 40"x40", centred on Sgr A*. In addition, we provide Ks photometry of about 3,000 stars in a very deep central…
The supermassive black hole candidate at the Galactic Center is surrounded by a parsec-scale star cluster, which contains a number of early type stars. The presence of such stars has been called a "paradox of youth" as star formation in the…
Recent large-scale infrared surveys have been revealing stellar populations in the inner Galaxy seen through strong interstellar extinction in the disk. In particular, classical Cepheids with their period-luminosity and period-age relations…
Solid insight into the physics of the inner Milky Way is key to understanding our Galaxy's evolution, but extreme dust obscuration has historically hindered efforts to map the area along the Galactic mid-plane. New comprehensive…
We report the discovery of a pair of extremely reddened classical Cepheid variable stars located in the Galactic plane behind the bulge, using near-infrared time-series photometry from the VVV Survey. This is the first time that such…
Observations of the stellar content of the bulge of the Milky Way can provide critical guidelines for the interpretation of observations of distant galaxies, in particular for understanding their stellar content and evolution. In this brief…
The Milky Way appears is a typical barred spiral, and comparisons can be made between its nuclear region and those of structurally similar nearby spirals. Maffei 2, M83, IC 342 and NGC 253 are nearby systems whose nuclear region properties…
Recent measurements, of the velocities of stars near the center of the Milky Way have provided the strongest evidence for the presence of a supermassive black hole in a galaxy, but the observational uncertainties poorly constrain many of…
The four main findings about the age and abundance structure of the Milky Way bulge based on microlensed dwarf and subgiant stars are: (1) a wide metallicity distribution with distinct peaks at [Fe/H]=-1.09, -0.63, -0.20, +0.12, +0.41; (2)…
The center of our disk galaxy, the Milky Way, is dominated by a boxy/peanut-shaped bulge. Numerous studies of the bulge based on stellar photometry have concluded that the bulge stars are exclusively old. The perceived lack of young stars…
Observations of the stellar content of the Milky Way's bulge helps to understand the stellar content and evolution of distant galaxies. In this brief overview I will first highlight some recent work directed towards measuring the history of…