Related papers: The Milky Way Bulge
Using observational data on the kinematical properties and density distributions of the subsystems of the Milky Way galaxy, we construct a set of multi-component equilibrium models of its disk. The dynamics of the disk is studied…
We present a detailed elemental abundance study of 90 F and G dwarf, turn-off and subgiant stars in the Galactic bulge. Based on high-resolution spectra acquired during gravitational microlensing events, stellar ages and abundances for 11…
The Milky Way is made up of a central bar, a disk with embedded spiral arms, and a dark matter halo. Observational and theoretical constraints for the characteristic parameters of these components will be presented, with emphasis on the…
The Milky Way's Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) differs dramatically from our local solar neighbourhood, both in the extreme interstellar medium conditions it exhibits (e.g. high gas, stellar, and feedback density) and in the strong dynamics…
Context: The bulk of the Molecular gas in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) of the Galactic center region shows warm kinetic temperatures, ranging from $>20$ K in the coldest and densest regions (n$\sim 10^{4-5}$ cm$^{-3}$) up to more than…
We know that our Galaxy is permeated by tenuous, hot, metal-rich gas. However much remains unknown about its origin, the portion of the Galaxy that it permeates, its total mass, as any role it may play in regulating activity in the Galaxy.…
A historical review of our understanding of bulges is first presented, highlighting similarities and differences between bulges and ellipticals. Then, some topics of current interest are reviewed, bypassing stellar population questions and…
Here we present the fundamental properties of the nuclear cluster of the Milky Way. First, we derive its structural properties by constructing a density map of the central 1000'' using extinction-corrected star counts. We can describe the…
Our knowledge on the central components of disk galaxies has grown substantially in the past few decades, particularly so in the last. This frantic activity and the complexity of the subject promote confusion in the community. In these…
Detailed observations of the nearest star-forming regions in the Milky Way (MW) provide the ultimate benchmark for studying star formation. The extent to which the results of these Galaxy-based studies can be extrapolated to extragalactic…
A short overview is presented of several topics concerning the evolution of the Milky Way (MW) in a cosmological context. In particular, the metallicity distribution of the MW halo is derived analytically and the halo metallicity and…
We report the spectrophotometric investigation of a planetary nebula sample located at the disk-bulge interface of the Milky Way. The main goal of this work was to determine the galactocentric distance where, according to the intermediate…
The knowledge of the intrinsic three-dimensional (3D) structure of galaxy components provides crucial information about the physical processes driving their formation and evolution. In this paper I discuss the main developments and results…
The detailed dynamical structure of the bulge in the Milky Way is currently under debate. Although kinematics of the bulge stars can be well reproduced by a boxy-bulge, the possible existence of a small embedded classical bulge can not be…
The Milky Way galaxy is observed to have multiple components with distinct properties, such as the bulge, disk, and halo. Unraveling the assembly history of these populations provides a powerful test to the theory of galaxy formation and…
The thickness of a galaxy's disk provides a valuable probe of its formation and evolution history. Observations of the Milky Way and local galaxies have revealed an ubiquitous disk structure with two distinctive components: an old thick…
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…
Bulges are not just elliptical subgalaxies situated in the centers of large spirals. It might seem that way from their ages and chemistry, but bulge kinematics have been known to be different since the first long slit spectra were obtained.…
This article intends to provide a concise overview, from an observational point-of-view, of the current state of our knowledge of the most relevant properties of the Milky Way's nuclear star cluster (MWNSC). The MWNSC appears to be a…
HI observations in the 21cm line have been a principal tool for investigating the large-scale structure of the Milky Way. This review considers what was learned in the first decade after the discovery of the 21cm line, and how that…