Abstract
Despite its importance as the only galactic spheroid fully resolved in stars, our knowledge of the Galactic bulge has been historically quite poor. This was mainly due to the stellar crowding, to the heavy interstellar absorption in the plane, and to the foreground disk contamination. However, in the last few years, with the use of near IR detectors, 8 meter class (or space based) telescopes, and the advent of multi-object spectrographs, we have learnt how to minimize the above eαects. This paper reviews the basic properties (structural parameters, age, chemical content) of the Galactic bulge, as determined in the last 4-5 years.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 85-90 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Revista Mexicana de Astronomia y Astrofisica: Serie de Conferencias |
| Volume | 35 |
| Publication status | Published - 2009 |
| Event | 12th IAU Regional Latin American Meeting of Astronomy - Isla Margarita, Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Duration: 22 Oct 2007 → 26 Oct 2007 |
Keywords
- Galaxy: Bulge
- Galaxy: Formation
- Galaxy: Stellar content
- Stars: Abundances
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Space and Planetary Science
- Astronomy and Astrophysics