Related papers: Something about the structure of the Galaxy
We present data for a sample of 45 spiral galaxies over a range of Hubble types, imaged in the near-IR J and K bands. Parameters are calculated describing the bulge, disk and bar K-band light distributions, and we look for correlations…
The Galactic centre hosts, according to observations, a number of early-type stars. About one half of those which are orbiting the central supermassive black hole on orbits with projected radii $\gtrsim$ 0.03 pc form a coherently rotating…
We present accurate relative ages for a sample of 55 Galactic globular clusters. The ages have been obtained by measuring the difference between the horizontal branch and the turnoff in two, internally photometrically homogeneous databases.…
We present a study of bar and host disk evolution in a dense cluster environment, based on a sample of ~800 bright (MV <= -18) galaxies in the Abell 901/2 supercluster at z~0.165. We use HST ACS F606W imaging from the STAGES survey, and…
We present precision radial velocities and stellar population parameters for 77 star clusters in the Local Group galaxy M33. Our GTC and WHT observations sample both young, massive clusters and known/candidate globular clusters, spanning…
Properties of bars and bulges in the Hubble sequence are discussed, based on the analysis of 216 disk galaxies (S0s and spirals from NIRS0S and OSUBGS surveys, respectively). For that purpose we have collected together, and completed when…
We present new near-infrared spectroscopic observations of the outer edges of the young stellar cluster around the supermassive black hole at the Galactic center. The observations show a break in the surface-density profile of young stars…
It is an observational fact that bulges of spiral galaxies contain a high fraction of old and metal-rich stars. Following this observational fact, we have investigated colors of 21 bulges hosted by a selected sample of high surface…
We present a large ${\sim 30" \times 30"}$ spectroscopic survey of the Galactic Center using the SINFONI IFU at the VLT. Combining observations of the last two decades we compile spectra of over $2800$ stars. Using the Bracket-$\gamma$…
The Galactic bulge hosts the Milky Way's oldest stars, possibly coming from disrupted globular clusters (GCs) or the bulge's primordial building blocks, making these stars witnesses to the Galaxy's early chemical enrichment. The Galactic…
We present optical and near-infrared colour maps of the central regions of bulges of S0 and spiral galaxies obtained with WFPC2 and NICMOS on the HST. By combined use of HST and ground-based data the colour information spans from a few tens…
We present new Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of NGC 300 taken as part of the ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey Treasury (ANGST). Individual stars are resolved in these images down to an absolute magnitude of M_F814W = 1.0 (below the red…
Galactic globular clusters (GCs) are known to host multiple stellar populations: a first generation with a chemical pattern typical of halo field stars and a second generation (SG) enriched in Na and Al and depleted in O and Mg. Both…
The detected variety in chemistry and circumstellar shell morphology of the limited sample of Galactic post-AGB stars is so large that there is no consensus yet on how the different objects are linked by evolutionary channels. The…
One third of present-day spirals host optically visible strong bars that drive their dynamical evolution. However, the fundamental question of how bars evolve over cosmological times has yet to be addressed, and even the frequency of bars…
We have performed deep imaging of a diverse sample of 26 low surface brightness galaxies (LSBGs) in the optical and the near-infrared. Using stellar population synthesis models, we find that it is possible to place constraints on the ratio…
By undertaking deep long-slit spectroscopy with the focal reducer SCORPIO of the Russian 6m telescope, we studied stellar population properties and their variation with radius in 15 nearby S0 galaxies sampling a wide range of luminosities…
We present absorption line strength maps of a sample of 24 representative early-type spiral galaxies, mostly of type Sa, obtained as part of the SAURON survey of nearby galaxies using our custom-built integral-field spectrograph. Using…
Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars are good tracers of the Galactic structure. They are bright in the infrared and can therefore be detected even in the most obscured regions of the Galaxy. Maser emission from their circumstellar envelopes…
(Abridged) We analyze the evolution of 42 spiral galaxies in the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey, using extinction-corrected UV, optical and near-infrared radial profiles to probe the emission of stars of different ages as a…