Related papers: The Galactic Extinction Horizon with Present and F…
Knowledge about the large-scale distribution of galaxies is far from complete in the Zone of Avoidance, which is mostly due to high interstellar extinction and to source confusion at lower Galactic latitudes. Past near-infrared (NIR)…
The inner regions of the Galaxy are severely affected by extinction, which limits our capability to study the stellar populations present there. The Vista Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) ESO Public Survey has observed this zone at…
Studying our Galaxy, the Milky Way (MW), gives us a close-up view of the interplay between cosmology, dark matter, and galaxy formation. In the next decade our understanding of the MW's dynamics, stellar populations, and structure will…
The purpose of this review is to discuss the advantages and problems of near-infrared surveys in observing pulsating stars in the Milky Way. One of the advantages of near-infrared surveys, when compared to optical counterparts, is that the…
Surveys of the local and distant Universe are the means to test and improve our models of galaxy formation. Substantial successes in the models are evident, while there is also considerable recent progress in identifying what remains to be…
For nearly a century, imaging and spectroscopic surveys of galaxies have given us information about the contents of the universe. We attempt to define the logical endpoint of such surveys by defining not the next galaxy survey, but the…
Context. The Vista Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) near-infrared variability survey explores some of the most complex regions of the Milky Way bulge and disk in terms of high extinction and high crowding. Aims. We add a new wavelength…
The Two Micron All Sky Survey, along with the Stellar Population Synthesis Model of the Galaxy, developed in Besancon, is used to calculate the extinction distribution along different lines of sight. By combining many lines of sight, the…
About 25% of the optical extragalactic sky is obscured by the dust and stars of our Milky Way. Dynamically important structures might still lie hidden in this zone. Various approaches are presently being employed to uncover the galaxy…
The high cosmological precision offered by the next generation of galaxy surveys hinges on improved corrections for Galactic dust extinction. We explore the possibility of estimating both the dust extinction and large-scale structure from a…
Context: There is still some debate about the presence and the morphological properties of the long bar in the inner Galaxy. Aims: We investigate the morphological properties of the long Galactic bar using the VVV survey extending star…
Galaxy redshift surveys have achieved significant progress over the last couple of decades. Those surveys tell us in the most straightforward way what our local universe looks like. While the galaxy distribution traces the bright side of…
Dust extinction is one of the most reliable tracers of the gas distribution in the Milky Way. The near-infrared (NIR) Vista Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) survey enables extinction mapping based on stellar photometry over a large area in…
In order to study the properties and effects of high Galactic latitude dust we present an analysis of 373,303 galaxies selected from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) All-Sky Survey and Wide-Field Infrared Explorer (WISE) All-Sky Data…
The Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) is now underway and will provide a complete census of galaxies as faint as 13.5 mag (3 mJy) at 2.2 microns for most of the sky, and ~12.1 mag (10 mJy) for regions veiled by the Milky Way. This census…
We explore the motivation behind large stellar surveys in Galactic astronomy, in particular, surveys that measure the photometric, phase space and abundance properties of thousands or millions of stars. These observations are essential to…
Due to the foreground extinction of the Milky Way, galaxies become increasingly faint as they approach the Galactic Equator creating a ``zone of avoidance'' (ZOA) in the distribution of optically visible galaxies of about 25%. A…
The VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea eXtended (VVVX) ESO public survey observed the Galactic plane and the outer Galactic bulge in the near-infrared to mitigate the effects of extinction that severely limit optical observations of these…
I review selected current observations of distant galaxies and our interpretation of the fragile (and occasionally contradictory) data. Galaxies at the ``contemporary limit'' of technology and redshift (z~6) are difficult to locate in the…
A brief overview on the current status of the census of the early universe population is given. Observational surveys of high redshift galaxies provide direct opportunities to witness the cosmic dawn and to have better understanding of how…